Cards from the Diamond Giveaway...Yes I'm Not Done There Yet

Before I show some cards, I would like to thank Topps for their bone-headed maneuver of putting an incorrect date on the codes for Diamond Giveaway.  It has enabled me to continue playing with my portfolio and making trades for actual cards instead of coins nothing.  I have only been on the Golden Giveaway site twice, both times to enter codes and left disappointed each time.  That wasn't the case with the 2011 site.  I haven't been going longer than 3-4 days without checking for trades and such since it began.  Even after this delivery (which is my 7th total delivery), I still have about 12 cards on the site most of which I plan to get delivered.  I can't believe how badly Topps dropped the ball in 2012 on this once great gimmick.  Anyway, let's take a look at some of the cards from my 5th paid delivery from Topps.

The best thing about Diamond Giveaway has been my ability to put a serious dent in my rookie cup collection.  Ed Charles is my 3rd from the 1963 set, which I'm sure after the past three days of Heritage you are all familiar with.  Les Cain is my first from the 1971 set which is odd because, aside from Thurman Munson and possibly Larry Bowa, the 71 team is mostly no-name guys.  The 1972 Bill Buckner is in fantastic shape, probably the best shape of any 70s card that I have gotten from Topps through DG.  He does look like he doesn't care that much for the trophy though since he is about to knock the little man off the top.

This 1974 Gary Matthews was very hard to trade for on DG despite there being over 100 copies.  It's a great photo, but I don't like the landscape photos in the 74 set.  They don't even look like they belong to the same set as the portraits (see below).  Next we come to a 1975 Frank Tanana.  Both Tanana and Matthews (and Buckner for that matter) were still active when I got into collecting in 1986.  Tanana was a Tiger and Sarge was a Cub in that 1986 set.

Here is a pair of card from the 1983 team.  Sax was obviously the more accomplished player from this group, but guys like Laskey are why I enjoy the rookie cups so much.  Making the Rookie All Star Team was probably the highlight of Laskey's career (1982-88), but he will always be on the same team as Ryne Sandberg.  The only thing to improve this would be the addition of the cup.  Well that and getting the Halloween uniform off of him.  I just noticed that I had two Dodgers and two Giants among the 7 cup cards and got a little sad.

It wasn't all rookie cups for me though.  This 1971 Jim "Mudcat" Grant is the only card that I have had shipped that I personally unlocked.  I probably could have turned it into a Larry Bowa or another of the 71 rookie cups I needed, but how can you trade away those muttonchops?  What a great card.  The other 17 cards I got shipped this time came from the 1974 set that is one of my Mountains to Climb in 2012.  The highlight of those 74s is this Manny Trillo rookie card.  The 1974 set is not really known for rookie cards, so Trillo's is one of the biggest names in the set.  The others are Dave Winfield, Dave Parker, Gorman Thomas, and Dan Driessen so not wallet busters by any means (well maybe Winfield).

Here are the more interesting photos from the rest of the 74s that I got.  The Eduardo Rodriguez is the only action shot from the ones I received, other than the Matthews above.  I don't the Athletic that is lazily leading off 2nd, but maybe some of you guys from the 70s might know.  The Marty Pattin is ridiculously awesome just because of how bad the airbrush job is on the cap.  A four year old with crayons could probably do as good a job on that cap.  Finally, I'll end with Jerry Bell and his muttonchops.  They are definitely a distant second to Jim Grant's, but they are still wickedly cool to go along with the old M caps for the Brewers.


I should be done with the Diamond Giveaway after my next shipment, but I will tell you for a fact that I will miss it. 

More Great Mail from eBay and Topps

Well the tax refund spending bonanza (minus the 50% put in savings) will continue here at the Quarry.  Before I show Thursday's mail, I want to take a moment to remind those of you that have not yet voted for the Rock Star right handed relievers, there is still time.  Keep in mind you should vote for THREE pitchers, so if you have already voted for one you can go back and add two more votes.

But now let's take a gander at today's eBay swag.

First up is a Hope Diamond (icefractor) parallel of one of the two Juan Nicasios from 2011 Topps Update.  I am going to start a small rant now.  One of the newest trends with cards that I am not enjoying whatsoever is multiple cards in the same series for rookies.  Rookie cup cards should be special, not one of two of the same player in the series.  Update went even further to with the insanity and not only gave rookie cards, but also "Rookie Debut" cards with the printed date of the player's first game.  Alex White even had one of his cards as an Indian and one as a Rockie (sort of) in the SAME SERIES.  This is ridiculous.  Even Braves fans have to admit that 3 Craig Kimbrels in 2012 Topps Series 1 is way too much.  I would much rather have seen a Kevin Kouzmanoff, Kevin Millwood or Matt Belisle Rockies card instead of a second Nicasio in Update.  Sorry for the rant, but it needed to be said.

Now that the rant is over here is my second black parallel from 2012 Topps.  I have been scouring eBay for the blacks since 2012 Topps went live.  Sure they are a little bit higher than normal, but with a /61 parallel if you don't find it early you might not ever find it.  This Dexter Fowler came to me for around $6, I actually don't consider that overpriced by any means.  Plus this is my favorite Rockies photo out of Series 1 by far.


I also got a delivery from Topps, but it won't count in the Spending Bonanza, because all this came FREE.

Why you ask.  Because of this.

That would be my "Limited Edition" 2011 Topps set.  I am happy with it, but I am also happier that it got me free shipping on 25 other rookie cup cards.  Well, 23 others as I'll explain below.  Most (but not all) of the cards I got were 1986 or newer simply because I wasn't going to pay to get them, but with the free shipping I figure what the heck.  I just scanned a few of the older ones and a couple that were interesting for other reasons.  Here they are.

Here is the oldest I got and one of the oldest rookie cups ever.  A 1961 Topps Ron Hansen with a FANTASTIC cartoon Oriole on the sleeve.  Why wasn't that one of the manufactured blaster relics from the past few years?  I would've got one.  Anyway, Hansen won the 1960 AL Rookie of the Year with an unbelievable (for the time) 22 home runs as a shortstop.  After Ripken and ARod and now Tulo, this generation has been spoiled with the power hitting shortstop.  Most shortstops throughout baseball history have been closer to Ozzie Smith (offensively, not defensively) than Troy Tulowitzki.

For this pair of 1970s cards I will focus on a very distinctive feature for the player on the card.  The 1972 Ross Grimsley has to be his ice blue eyes.  Imagine being a batter at the plate and having a staredown with those cold, zombie-like eyes.  No wonder he was an All Star rookie.  The 1977 Chet Lemon has to be the sideburns.  I really wish sideburns would make a comeback and not in the 1990s 90210 Luke Perry/Jason Priestley way.  I'm talking about the full on Civil War Ambrose Burnsides sideburns. 

Speaking of bad facial hair, here is the 1982 Tim Wallach and his attempt at having a mustache.  I think he made a very good choice to go clean shaven for the majority of his career.  He really have the porn star look going on in that photo especially with the unfortunate placement of the bat.  Cool photo though.  The 1981 Damaso Garcia is sort of a strange card as well and not just for the name Damaso.  The perspective of the photo makes Garcia look like he is 3 feet tall.  When in actuality, he was 6'1".  He just looks tiny in that photo.

Here is the first card that brought my total down from 25.  This is a 2003 Topps Brad Wilkerson which is needed on my want list.  The problem lies with the stamp.  Yep this is a Home Team Advantage parallel, so I still need the Wilkerson for my 2003 set.  What REALLY bugs me about this one is that the other 2003 card I got shipped was Rockie Jason Jennings and it was not the HTA parallel.  I am collecting the Rockies HTA parallels, but not the rookie cup parallels, switch the two and I do a cartwheel.  Leave them as Topps sent them and I still have two numbers on my wantlist.

This is the other card that I go shipped and my first thought was I actually needed a 1987 Topps Bruce Ruffin.  I know I had this card 20 times over as a kid, but I did not have it aside from my complete set.  So cool this was going to finish off my 87 rookie cup set. 


BUT

Then I saw the back.  I'm sure many of you know that that is not a 1987 Topps back.  It's way too white.  This would be a Topps Tiffany parallel.  It's actually a cool card and since it was free not really worth complaining about...but I still don't have my 87 set finished.  Someone out there has to have a 1987 Bruce Ruffin that they could send me.  Please.


Thanx for reading.

Diamond Giveaway - Delivery #1

The Topps Diamond Giveaway site has been up and running for a few months now and I still love it.  I have using it primarily to build my Rookie Cup Collection and have been quite successful so far.  Well, successful is a relative term, but considering my 21 codes have garnered me a 1960 common (traded for 10 cards) and a Vernon Wells die cut (traded for 26 cards after failing to get a Rockie die cut in trade) and not much else I think I have done quite well.  Anyway, the first delivery I received arrived fairly quickly from Topps (about a 9 day turnaround).  Much better than the two months it took to get my 2 cards from MCG or 6 months to get my last redemption.

Here is what I got from newest to oldest.  All involved at least one trade and some had several. Along with a recap of the trading done to get this particular card. (Some are quite extensive).  I have completed 76 trades as of this writing. 

* = I didn't initiate the trade

2005 Daniel Cabrera

What was it originally: 1/2 of a 1991 Tino Martinez

How I got it

91 Tino for 91 Sandy Alomar

91 Alomar for 2 cards including 05 Sidney Ponson*

05 Ponson for 05 Cabrera

2001 Mike Lamb

What was it originally: 2001 Stan Javier (one of my first two codes)

How I got it

01 Javier for 01 Lamb (simple enough)

 

 2001 Pat Burrell

What was it originally: 2001 Robin Ventura

How I got it

01 Ventura for 01 Burrell

 1996 Marty Cordova

What was it originally: 1/2 of a 1991 Tino Martinez

How I got it:

91 Tino for 91 Sandy Alomar

91 Alomar for 2 cards including 90 Mike Flanagan*

90 Flanagan for 96 Cordova

 1996 Garret Anderson

What was it originally: 1/10 of a 1960 Gene Stephens
 How I got it
60 Stephens for 10 cards including 96 Dante Bichette*
96 Bichette for 96 Anderson

1994 Steve Cooke

What was it originally: 1/10 of a 1960 Gene Stephens

How I got it:

60 Stephens for 10 cards including a 89 Jose Canseco All Star*

89 Canseco for 94 Marcos Armas (imagine making that trade in 1994)*

94 Armas for 94 Cooke

1991 Scott Radinsky

What was it originally: 1991 Ken Caminiti

How I got it:

91 Caminiti for 91 Radinsky

1990 Craig Worthington

What was it originally: 1992 Lenny Harris

How I got it:

92 Harris for 90 Worthington

1980 Jeff Leonard (with great old school Astros helmet)

What was it originally: 1/10 of 1960 Gene Stephens

How I got it:

60 Stephens for 10 cards including 80 Terry Whitfield*

80 Whitfield for 80 Leonard

1978 Wayne Gross

What was it originally: 1/3 of a 1977 Luis Tiant

How I got it:

 77 Tiant for 3 cards including 78 Alvis Woods* (one of my better trades)

78 Woods for 78 Chris Speier

78 Speier for 78 Gross

1977 Larry Herndon

What was it originally: 1/3 of a 1977 Luis Tiant

How I got it:

77 Tiant for 3 cards including 77 Glenn Abbott*

77 Abbott for 77 Herndon

1976 Dan Ford

What was it originally: 2005 Bobby Abreu (nice turnaround, but not my best)

How I got it:

05 Abreu for 87 Cal Ripken

87 Ripken for 87 Pete Rose (#2, second time I had this card)

87 Rose for 76 Tom Bradley (someone offered and I jumped on it)*

76 Bradley for 76 Ford

1976 Tom Underwood

What was it originally: 1987 Pete Rose (#1)

How I got it:

87 Rose for 2 cards including 79 Lary Sorenson*

79 Sorenson for 79 Chris Speier

79 Speier for 76 Fernando Arroyo*

76 Arroyo for 76 Underwood

 

1974 Rich Coggins

What was it originally: seven cards from 85-07 (highlights 2000 Jim Thome and 85 Billy Sample)

How I got it:

 Seven overproduction era commons for 74 Alan Foster

74 Foster for 74 Ken Suarez*

74 Suarez for 74 Coggins

1974 Jerry Terrell

What was it originally: 1/2 of 2005 Orioles Future Stars John Maine and Val Majewski (fun trades here)

How I got it:

05 Orioles FS for 05 Matt Holliday

05 Holliday for two cards including 87 Dwight Gooden*

87 Gooden for 87 Robin Yount

87 Yount for 86 Eddie Murray

86 Murray for 84 Paul Molitor

84 Molitor for 82 Gary Carter All Star

82 Carter for 80 Rod Carew

80 Carew for 74 Steve Braun*

74 Braun for 74 Terrell

I still have 27 cards left on the site and have yet to complete Series 1 or buy any Series 2 box(es).  I spent $10 on shipping for these cards, but the fun value of turning a 2005 junk rookie into a 1974 card (and 5 different Hall of Famers at some point) and one other coming up in Delivery #2 whenever I get that one is priceless.  I was not collecting a lot last year so I missed out on the majority of MCG, but I am having a blast with Diamond Giveaway.  What else could I have spent the $10 on, a movie with no snacks...two months worth of the Budget eBay Collector...one lunch?  I have no problem with spending that $10 on Topps' shipping.

Sunday's Afternoon Blaster - 2011 Topps Value Pack

Welcome to this week's Sunday Afternoon Blaster.  This is one of those purchases that I just had to make.  The Topps set I haven't bought this year (other than one blaster), the Heritage is my favorite set in a long time.  The two Diamond Giveaway cards inserted in every box will put me over the first gift threshhold as well.  I think for the money this is one of the better values for cards.  I say this before opening it, I may complain at the end though.  I do have a few specific goals for each set.  With the Topps I need 2 specific non-parallel cards #141 Ubaldo Jimenez base and KC-1 Ubaldo Kimball Champions.  I would also be happy with a parallel Rockie as well. The Heritage, since I have completed the base set, I simply want a SP or insert I need.  I would also be happy with one of the 2 non-SP Rox I need for the team set. 

Card coloration is it's availability

white = I'm keeping it

green = available for trade

red = already claimed/traded



Today's "blaster" is a 2011 Topps Baseball Value Box.  5 Series 1 packs, 2 Heritage hobby packs, 1 bonus pack.

On with the show.

Topps

pack one

307 Alex Rios - White Sox

46 Hong-Chih Kuo - Dodgers

184 Brandon Morrow - Blue Jays

29 Josh Hamilton MVP - Rangers

314 Ryan Kalish - Red Sox

134 League Leaders Carlos Gonzalez - Rockies (and others)

217 Yunel Escobar - Blue Jays

154 Marlon Byrd - Cubs

267 Jose Contreras - Phillies

inserts

DD-PG Price/Garza Diamond Duos - Rays

60YOT-32 1983 #540 Ozzie Smith - Cardinals

TT-13 Chase Utley Toppstown - Phillies

pack two

188 Pablo Sandoval - Giants

33 Max Scherzer - Tigers

221 Scott Hairston - Padres

49 Angels team card - Angels

198 Buster Posey - Giants

53 Dbacks team card - Diamondbacks

283 Rockies team card - Rockies

113 Arthur Rhodes - Reds

191 Jay Bruce - Reds

inserts

T60-3 Babe Ruth Topps 60 - Yankees

HOT-10 2009 Topps receives MLB Exclusive - History of Topps

TT-32 Mike Stanton Toppstown - Marlins

pack three

121 Brandon Inge - Tigers

35 Shin-Soo Choo - Indians

317 Yonder Alonso - Reds

70 Kyle Drabek - Blue Jays

15 David Wright - Mets

234 Miguel Montero - Diamondbacks

273 Derrek Lee - Braves

90 Yadier Molina - Cardinals

171 Garrett Jones - Pirates

inserts

143 Jeremy Jeffress diamond parallel - Brewers

60YOT-39 1990 #701 Bernie Williams - Yankees

TT-33 Victor Martinez Toppstown - Red Sox

pack four

284 Reid Brignac - Rays

67 Vladimir Guerrero - Rangers

218 Victor Martinez - Red Sox

117 Brett Sinkbeil - Marlins

196 Jose Ceda - Marlins

7 Mickey Mantle - LET HIM REST IN PEACE

230 Aaron Cook - Rockies

325 Jayson Werth - Phillies

313 Chris Coghlan - Marlins

inserts

TDG-4 Albert Pujols Diamond Giveaway - Cardinals (see below for results)

KC-1 Ubaldo Jimenez Kimball Champions - Rockies WOOHOO!

TT-50 Albert Pujols Toppstown - Cardinals

pack five

311 James Shields - Rays

224 Milton Bradley - Mariners

69 Brett Gardner - Yankees

52 Rays team card - Rays

83 Greg Halman - Mariners

236 Nelson Cruz - Rangers

86 Carlos Silva - Cubs

229 Jonathan Sanchez - Giants

10 Stephen Strasburg - Nationals

inserts

T60-16 Carl Crawford Topps 60 - Rays

60YOT-05 1956 #113 Phil Rizzuto - Yankees

TT-47 Dustin Pedroia Toppstown - Red Sox

Heritage

pack one

255 Edwin Jackson - White Sox

47 Kosuke Fukudome - Cubs - Spiegel

296 Ian Desmond - Nationals

86 Alex Presley - Pirates

C56 Edwin Jackson chrome - White Sox 1831/1962

321 Matt Mangini - Mariners

415 Dexter Fowler - Rockies

398 Joey Votto All Star - Reds

55 AL ERA Leaders Felix Hernandez - Mariners (and others)

pack two

240 Xavier Nady - Diamondbacks

287 Neftali Feliz - Rangers

83 Chris Carpenter - Cardinals

345 Dustin Pedroia - Red Sox

350 Joey Votto - Reds

44 Justin Upton - Diamondbacks

121 Buck Showalter - Orioles

413 Chris Young - Diamondbacks

97 Grady Sizemore - Indians

Bonus

TDG-6 Roy Halladay Diamond Giveaway - Phillies

TDG-4 Albert Pujols Diamond Giveaway - Cardinals

MBC2 Jackie Robinson refractor - Dodgers - Spiegel

Code Redemptions

Pujols from pack = 1991 #174 Ken Caminiti and Colorado Rockies ring

Halladay = 1987 #200 Pete Rose and New York Mets ring

Pujols bonus = 2005 #327 Orioles Future Stars and St. Louis Cardinals ring

BONUS PRIZE for 5 Rings

2005 #194 Bobby Abreu and Oakland Athletics ring

IMPRESSIONS
Design: A
The Topps design is great, but after 4 years it's about time for a non-white bordered set.  Hopefully 2012 will change it up a bit and be like 1971 or 2003 instead of 2002 or 1990.  I have already stated multiple time how much I love the 1962 Topps design.  This set is the one I had been looking forward to since I got back into the hobby and learned of Heritage in 2006.

Inserts / Hits: C-
I have railed on all of the Topps inserts from the flagship set this year before, but I am thrilled with getting the last Rockie I need in Ubaldo's Kimball mini.  With the Heritage I got about as blah as a could get for the 2 hobby packs, especially since the Chrome card I got was a dupe and I only have 12 of them.  The less said about the Diamond Giveaway codes the better.

Value: A
It is called a "value" box.  For the price, this is one of the best retail values there are.  A Heritage hobby insert or Jackie Robinson SP would have made this a slam dunk A+.  But still not bad at all, I just wish they had these before I had virtually the whole Heritage set put together.

Rox in the Box: 5...6 (counting virtual junk)
Great box for a Rockies fan.  Getting one of the two cards I need for my flagship team set is fantastic.  The Fowler was not one of the 2 (Wigginton, Gonzalez AS) I need for the team set, but I am never going to complain about this year's Heritage.  The ring is what it is, eh I guess it's better than a Giants or Dodgers ring.

Will I Collect This Set: B/A+
The flagship set I will eventually get around to building, but it's not anything I am in a big hurry to do.  Heritage I hope to have fully complete (including the High Numbers) by the end of 2011.  I am pretty close already and only need 24 more short prints and 6 inserts. 

Overall: A
For the price this value box can't be beat for the average collector.  It was only $3 more than my usual discount blaster and a bunch of people are actually still collecting these sets.  So maybe I can work out a few trades and get what I need with this box.

My first Diamond Giveaway Cards

Here we go, my first Diamond Giveaway codes acquired from Eric from Manupatches & Chrome Scratches.  This is actually part of my second, uncompleted, trade with Eric, the first will be a part of The Rockie Trading Post #18 coming up in a week or so.  But I was antsy for finally getting a couple of codes so I just had him email me the codes and keep the actual cards (did anyone actually keep their MCG cards?).

Well on with the show of my first two Diamond Giveaway cards.

 Glad I was in a hurry to get those two.  Quick show of hands, who remembered Stan Javier was an active player in 2000?  Oh well, my six codes that I actually put in myself for MCG were all traded away, so I might be able to do a large combo like I did with that one as well. (Hopefully they will arrive shortly, I got a couple of cool cards).

I also got a couple of the rings as well from dearly departed teams.  One I remember much better than the other.

Honestly I wouldn't mind getting a real Rockies ring like that.

So it might have been worth the hype that I had built in my mind, but it was definitely fun for a few minutes putting in the codes and treasure hunting.  And that brings me back to why I got into this hobby to begin with.  I love the thrill of the hunt!  There is no greater feeling in cards than opening a pack and getting a card you want or "need."  And Topps has managed to give us a virtual thrill, I was not disappointed, even with lackluster results.

Anyone that doesn't want their unredeemed code cards, feel free to email me I will happily trade for them.  I don't care if I get 100 87 Topps cards, I just want the thrill of the hunt.