A place where Colorado Rockies baseball card collectors (all 3 of us) can waste some time reading about our favorite sport. The Rockies and their cards will be the primary focus, but I like to go off on tangents as well so anything and everything baseball related may be covered here.

Monday, January 31, 2011

The Budget eBay Collector - January Results

In a couple of earlier posts I described the rules and the stats of this experiment. Well the final two cards arrived on the last day of the month, so far SUCCESS.  The results are shown below in order of purchase.

1. 1979 Topps #251 Jack Morris


Morris' second card and the first in which he appeared solo.  I am on the fence on whether he should be in the Hall of Fame.  I think he will pull a Jim Rice and get in on the last ballot, but like Rice I am not sure if he belongs or not.  Odd factoid, card arrived in a toploader, but no penny sleeve.  I expected the opposite for the price.  I got this card for 12 cents shipped. $4.88 remaining.

2. 1994 Upper Deck American Epic #14 Christy Mathewson


Before you move on, click on the back of that card and read it.  You gotta love a card in which you can learn someone was a football star at Bucknell, his worst vice was checkers, and he was exposed to poison gas in a military drill.   6 cents shipped.  How can you beat that?  5 cents you say?  Well, okay then smartass.  $4.82 remaining.

3. 2002 Donruss Classics #166 Joe Morgan /1500


The card looks refractory from the scan but it isn't.  Most of my family loved the Reds because it is the closest team to where I live.  I wasn't as big a fan and I missed Joe Morgan's heyday, but I thought this card was cool as soon as I saw it.  Plus, you get to see the Colt 45's name on the back, you couldn't get away with that name today (see Washington Wizards).  $1.51 shipped (yeah, I know I splurged but I'm not going hungry yet). $3.31 remaining.

4. 2008 Topps Chrome X-Fractor Troy Tulowitzki


SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! I had my maximum bid up with 90 minutes to go and I thought I would get sniped, but lo and behold I got a great Rockie, an XFractor, and a rookie cup card all in one.  How great is that?  Boy, I can't wait until this historic card is reprinted in this year's Topps set...yep, that's sarcasm.  $1.75 shipped (and well worth it).  $1.56 remaining (gotta start being selective now).

5. 2006 Topps Special Edition Rookies #321 Bruce Gradkowski


I had him on my championship fantasy team this year, so I figured what the heck, but my first thought after the auction was over was that this is one of those "Why did I just buy that?" purchases.  However, after checking out COMC the cheapest there was $1.30 + extra fees and the "book value" is $4 (whatever that means).  Pretty good deal.  17 cents shipped.  $1.39 remaining.

6. 2002 Topps206 Polar Bear Mini #390 Adam Dunn


Let me start off by saying that unlike most in Blogland, I am not overly enamored with all these throwback sets, specifically those dealing with T206 and 1952 Topps.  I realize these designs are iconic, but give it a rest Topps and do it maybe once a generation to give it a sort of special feel.  Anyway onto Dunn I think this is the short-print version of his card (correct me if I am wrong).           15 cents shipped.  $1.24 remaining.

7. 2003 Topps205 Triple Folder #38 Alex Rodriguez / Miguel Tejada

Here's your B-12 shot Miguel

This is another of the throwback sets with everyone's favorite Alex Rodriguez.  While we are here, this is another topic in which I disagree with most of my fellow bloggers.  Honestly, I don't love that steroids were used, but what's done is done.  If it wasn't for McGwire / Sosa in 1998, I probably wouldn't be a baseball fan today.  But that's a topic for another day.  I got this beauty for 16 cents shipped. $1.08 remaining.

8. 2006 Topps Turkey Red Black parallel #534 Doug Mientkiewicz


Along with Mark Grudzielanek, Mientkiewicz was one of the funner names of the late 90s / early 2000s.  Here he is shown as a Royal, although I still think of him as a Twin.  I like the Turkey Reds better as a standalone set better than an insert set.  I think I would like them a lot better if only modern players were used.  Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth's stats haven't changed for a long time so why the need for new cards of them every year.  But I digress.  I got this one for 25 cents shipped.  $0.83 remaining.

9. 2007 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts #11 Joe Cronin


I love the design of this card.  I knew the name, but I didn't know a lot about Joe Cronin before this purchase.  It turns out he was a busy guy.  He was President of the American League for for 15 years after being general manager of the Red Sox for 10.  Oddest fact about him was that he was traded by the Senators while serving as player/manager to take that same role with Boston for another 10 years.  I got this card for 36 cents shipped.  $0.47 remaining.

10. 1994 Leaf #397 Larry Walker


Here is Walker in his pre-Colorado days playing in what has to be Wrigley Field.  Not a horrible design on that 94 Leaf set, but not a great one either.  (Bitch mode on) How does Larry Walker only get 20 percent of the Hall of Fame vote?  I didn't expect him to be a first ballot lock by any means, but 20 freaking percent.  I think voters are not choosing Rockies based on the home ballpark which is totally unfair because Major League Baseball knew Denver was at high elevation when they sanctioned the franchise.  Todd Helton will probably face the same bias when he is eligible.  (Bitch mode off)  I got it for 11 cents shipped.  $0.36 remaining.

11. 2006 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor #101 P.J. Daniels /150


Can you go wrong with a rookie refractor numbered to 150?  Of course you can, what a dumb question.  When it is a fourth round rookie running back that never played a snap in the regular season, it could be counted as wrong.  That being said, he still made it to pro ball which most people cannot do and this is a cool looking card of the Ravens pick and I got it cheap enough.  I would be happy to ship this off for a numbered Rockies bust.  32 cents shipped. $0.04 remaining.  (not getting a 52 Topps as the last one)

12. 2006 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor #178 Julius Jones /150


Well, I went slightly over budget.  I had bids on the last two cards with a 36 cent maximum and surprisingly won them both.  Can't complain though.  Another blue refractor makes this a starter set now.  I normally do not buy football cards, but at this time of year there were more football cards than baseball cards on eBay.  You have to work with the materials available.  I got this one for 15 cents shipped.  11 cents over budget.


WHAT I LEARNED (aka the part you will skip over)
1. Always check the free shipping box.  The Perez I bought for 1 cent with $1.50 shipping that I didn't notice.
2. This is a great option for getting good trade bait or for collectors of popular teams, but not for getting Rockies unfortunately.
3.  I didn't realize how much time I spent browsing eBay until I had a stopwatch running.
4. Not only did I get the cards for $5, I also got 11 toploaders and a handful of penny sleeves.  Can't complain about that.
5. This was a good way to own some cards that I would have never even thought to look for on COMC or Sportslots.
6. I had a good time doing it.  It was really fun winning an auction for the total price of 6 cents.
7. I bypassed some cards that I normally would've splurged on, that's probably a good thing.
8. I will be doing this again on a bi-monthly or tri-monthly basis.  But honestly I can't limit myself to $5 every month.


Every card seen here excluding the Tulowitzki and the Morris is available for trade.  Email me or comment below if you want certain cards.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

2009 Upper Deck Icons Blaster Break

Well after my trade with Mike, I thought I might like to check out the 2009 Upper Deck Icons as a building set.  At my local Wally World, there was one lone blaster of that set in the discount card bin.  $11.98 for 10 packs and 1 guaranteed jersey card.  I wonder if it is kismet.  Let's find out.

Worst possible jerseys in this set (IMHO) - Bill Hall, Chris Duncan, Jeff Francoeur, Jhonny Peralta, Scott Kazmir...since there are 0 Rockies out of 65 possible retail jerseys (what's up with that)...I'll just hope I avoid those 5.




Pack 1
81 Nate McClouth - Pirates
54 Jimmy Rollins - Phillies
76 Mark Teixeira - Yankees
49 James Shields - Rays
50 Jason Giambi - Athletics

Pack 2 (meant for you BABenny)
63 Jose Reyes - Mets
1 A.J. Burnett - Yankees
81 Nate McClouth - Pirates Silver Board parallel?  Retail Red parallel
UD 20th Retro 1912 Eli Manning - NY Giants
32 David Wright - Mets

Pack 3 - HIT (well soft single)
64 Josh Beckett - Red Sox
IC-CU Michael Cuddyer - Twins jersey (claimed by hard to spell Twins fan)
95 Stephen Drew - Diamondbacks

Pack 4
37 Ervin Santana - Angels
12 Brian McCann - Braves
73 Magglio Ordonez - Tigers
34 Derrek Lee - Cubs
5 Albert Pujols - Cardinals

Pack 5
46 Ichiro - Mariners
71 Kosuke Fukudome - Cubs
68 Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners
41 Garrett Atkins - Rockies (well I knew I would pull at least one from that trade)
14 Carlos Beltran - Mets

Pack 6
59 Johan Santana - Mets
4 Akinori Iwamura - Rays
77 Matt Holliday - Athletics
43 Hanley Ramirez - Marlins
16 Carlos Quentin - White Sox

Pack 7
19 Chad Billingsley - Dodgers
82 Nick Markakis - Orioles
UD 20th Retro 1917 - New England Patriots
79 Michael Young - Rangers
52 Jay Bruce - Reds

Pack 8
55 Joakim Soria - Royals
28 Daisuke Matsuzaka - Red Sox
25 Cliff Lee - Indians
88 Russell Martin - Dodgers
61 Jon Lester - Red Sox

Pack 9 Hit #2 (unexpected hit for Night Owl if he needs it)
91 Ryan Howard - Phillies
2 Adam Dunn - Nationals
IC-AE - Andre Ethier Icons "shiny goodness" 782/999 (claimed by the Dark Hooter)
97 Tim Lincecum - Giants
7 Alfonso Soriano - Cubs

Pack #10
57 Joe Mauer - Twins
30 Dan Uggla - Marlins
93 Ryan Zimmerman - Nationals
92 Ryan Ludwick - Cardinals
65 Josh Hamilton - Rangers




Dodger collectors...does Russell Martin have any bad photos on his cards?  His is by far the best of the cards I received.  I think he is the Benito Santiago of this generation with photos.

My thoughts on the set
I am definitely going to be building the base set.  Some may say it is too plain or repetitive, but to me the colors really pop (except the gray of the Pirates and White Sox).  The backs are kind of blah, but I am okay with it.  I am somewhat surprised that with the small checklist and 43 base cards in the blaster, I got 0 dupes (not counting the Atkins).  The two hits should be easy trades for Rockies.  The parallel is a Pirate so I might be stuck with it, but if you want it offer me any Rockie I don't have from any set.
All in all, that's a pretty dang successful discount blaster from 2 years ago.  If you are interested in trading for any the hits, parallel or the UD Retro stuff, email me or comment below as usual.

RTP #4 - Special Guest Mike from BABenny's Baseball Card Buffet

Welcome to episode #4 of The Rockie Trading Post.  Today's special guest is Mike from BABenny's Baseball Card Buffet (try saying that five times fast).  Most of you know Mike, but if you don't allow me to introduce him.  He collects Mets, Yankees, Jets, Giants (football), and Saints and several player collections.  Give him a buzz, he is really easy to trade with, plus you might get rid of some hated Yankee cards like I did.  I sent him several cards for both the Yankees and Mets along with a surprise.  Here are the highlights of what he sent me.


 First off is the two serial numbered cards he sent.  The Spilly is a 2008 Topps gold which brings me up to 3 Rockies for that set.  The Barmes is the key here.  It is a 2004 Skybox LE Gold Proof Clint Barmes /150.  I love trading to send away several Yankees that I never looked at after opening the pack to get this beauty.  Ain't life grand!


 Next up is some 2010 releases.  Hopefully Nelson fulfills some of his promise this year, he was the Rockies first rounder in 2004.  Why did Topps put the entire team name on the 2010 base set?  Did they think people wouldn't know who the Rockies were without the Colorado?  Ugh.


 Here we have an absolutely beautiful 2003 Finest Jason Jennings.  It is my first 2003 Finest, but if other teams look as good as the Colorado purple I may have to build this whole set.


Yet another great looking set that I may have to think about.  2009 Upper Deck Icons of Atkins and Tulowitzki.  I wonder if I will still be blogging in 2021 when his contract is up.


 Finally, we come to two first round picks of the 1990s.  You try to figure out which one was the better pick.  You have 30 seconds (cue: Final Jeopardy music).  This is my first 2006 Opening Day card.  Were they all blue foil or is this a parallel?


Thanks again Mike for the trade.  I hope you visit the Rockie Trading Post again very soon with a certain Razor Letterman card you picked up yesterday, but no pressure :) .  Make sure you check out his Buffet here as well as his Pack Rip Cafe, which is a great read.  That's it for this exciting episode of The Rockie Trading Post.  Make sure you tune in next time when I will be featuring among other things 1988 Donruss.  (OK the set sucked but please come anyway).

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Rockies want lists

 

1993     1994     1995     1996     1997     1998     1999     2000     2001     2002

 

2003     2004     2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011     2012

 

2013     2014     2015     2016     2017     2018     2019     2020     2021     2022

 

2023

 

 

 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Rockie Trading Post #3 - Special Guest Dennis from Too Many Grandersons

Welcome to the third episode of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight's special guest is Dennis from Too Many Grandersons.  Dennis is a collector of University of Michigan athletes and Detroit Tigers cards along with being a set builder.  He wrote up a post about what I traded him, if you are curious click here.  Now onto the highlights of what I received from him.


 This is THE highlight of this trade.  How can you go wrong with a dual purple jersey relic of the two longest tenured Rockies in history?  This is a 2001 SPx Winning Materials of Larry Walker and Todd Helton.  It isn't serial numbered, but the SCD Standard Catalog says duals were limited to 50 sets.  Does anyone have any other info on this card or set?  If so, I would appreciate it.


Next up is two 2005 Topps Chrome rookie cup winners.  As some of you know, I don't buy chrome packs or boxes, so anytime I get them in a trade it's a winner.


Here we have 2 Chrome Refractors from 2005 also.   Tsao's Rockie career was in fact a rocky career.  He had the closer's job in 2005, but unfortunately injuries derailed those plans.  According to his Wiki, he has since been banished by the Chinese Professional League in a game fixing scandal and currently runs a barbecue joint in Hualien City.  (I never thought that string of words would ever come from me.)


A couple of the several 2009 Topps inserts that Dennis sent.  First, I love the propaganda set.  I think it is one of Topps best ever inserts.  Second, has any player ever gone from All Star to waiver wire quicker than Brad Hawpe.  Less than a year after being in the All Star Game he was very quietly waived and picked by the Rays around September of last year.  He is probably going to be replacing A-Gon at first for the Padres, I'm okay with that.
 

Finally, we have a 2002 Upper Deck Ovation Aaron Cook /2002.  It is hard to believe how long Cook has been a Rockie.  Only a handful of guys have played longer with the team, but I don't really consider him one of the greatest Rockies.  He was the ace during the lean mid 2000s, but now is where he belongs as a serviceable #3 starter behind Ubaldo and JDLR.

Thanks again Dennis for the trade and don't forget to check out his Razor Letterman group break this Saturday.  I think there is still time to get in.  Until next time, this has been The Rockie Trading Post.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Trade Bait - 2001-2010 Topps Black and Gold Edition

As seen in my other two posts here and here, I will be showing off some trade bait, since you guys seem to love them.  This edition is full of gold and black parallels for Topps.  All of these are for trade for any Rockies, but I will only trade the blacks for Rockie blacks.

Claimed cards and pending trades in red



Black Parallels
2008 #UH252 - Tony Clark - Diamondbacks - 54/57
2009 #51 - Will Venable - Padres - 39/58
2009 #422 - Hank Blalock - Rangers - 31/58
2010 #141 - Chone Figgins - Angels - 43/59





The Golds are broken down by team

Astros
2008 - 249 - Chris Sampson
2010 - 311 - Jose Valverde

Athletics
2008 - 245 - Dan Haren
2009 - 312 - Ryan Sweeney
2010 - 236 - Andrew Bailey ALROY



Blue Jays
2001 - 513 - Esteban Loaiza
2009 - 595 - Vernon Wells
2009 - UH92 - Edwin Encarnacion

Braves
2009 - UH10 - Tommy Hanson - on hold for Colbey if he wants it

Brewers
2001 - 443 - Jeromy Burnitz


Cardinals
2007 - 39 - Jim Edmonds
2008 - UH271 - Brad Thompson

Diamondbacks
2010 - 46 - Chad Tracy

Dodgers
2009 - UH25 - Orlando Hudson


Giants
2007 - 464 - Omar Vizquel
2010 - 9 - Tim Lincecum NLCYA

Mariners
2006 - 225 - Ichiro
2008 - 239 - Richie Sexson
2009 - UH306 - Endy Chavez
2009 - UH330 - Ken Griffey Jr.


Marlins
2001 - 716 - Ryan Dempster

Nationals
2008 - UH19 - Johnny Estrada
2009 - 263 - Elijah Dukes

Padres
2006 - 288 - Bruce Bochy
2008 - UH42 - Chip Ambres
2009 - UH307 - Heath Bell

Pirates
2008 - UH171 - Brian Bixler
2008 - UH204 - Franquelis Osoria
2009 - UH124 - Delwyn Young
2010 - 194 - Neil Walker

Rangers
2008 - 148 - Gerald Laird
2008 - 214 - C.J. Wilson
2008 - UH45 - Eric Hurley

Rays
2008 - 464 - Rocco Baldelli
2008 - UH58 - Scott Kazmir AS
2009 - 567 - Willy Aybar

Red Sox
2009 - 66 - Dustin Pedroia AS
2009 - UH101 - Nick Green

Royals
2006 - 278 - Royals Team Card

Twins
2008 - 12 - Jason Bartlett
2009 - UH107 - Anthony Swarzak

White Sox
2009 - 365 - Mark Buehrle
2009 - 506 - Paul Konerko
2009 - 577 - Jose Contreras
2009 - 625 - Jim Thome
2009 - UH319 - Ramon Castro

Yankees
2008 - 209 - Andy Phillips



As always email me at hiflew(at)yahoo(dot)com or leave a comment below to make a trade.