The Budget eBay Collector - March results

1. 2009 Bowman Chrome Refractor #47 Mike Jacobs

Well, last time I started with a 1979 card of potential HOF pitcher in Jack Morris.  This time I start with a journeyman first baseman who was a non-roster spring training invitee (with the Rockies) at age 30.  Um, it's a little bit of a drop off, but it's still a cool card and who doesn't love refractors.  This card should already be in the possession of Eric from Manupatches and Chrome Scratches.  I got this one for 28 cents shipped (I may have overpaid, but I had just lost 27 auctions in a row).  $4.72 remaining.

2. 1964 Topps #64 Ted Abernathy

Not a great condition, but not a bad card either that became the newest "oldest card I have" and is one of Jaybee's five Topps 300 and then some for 1964 (Could someone explain why please).  I didn't know anything about Abernathy before this purchase, but it seems he was one of the first closers along with Hoyt Wilhelm and others.  This card is significant because it is the first year Abernathy became a reliever after 4 years struggling as a starter with the Senators.  He finished his career with 148 saves (quite a high total for back then).  He compares to Steve Bedrosian, Mike Jackson, and Roger McDowell to give you an idea of him.  I picked it up for 45 cents shipped.  $4.27 remaining.

3. 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Gold Century Proof #179 Jim Edmonds #'d 11/100

Now we're talking.  A #'d to 100 card of great player that never played for the Rockies, but I always liked him mainly for his fantastic catches.  Edmonds retired after a 17 year career this spring and I feel even older now because I was in high school when he was a rookie.  I don't think he was quite a Hall of Famer, but he should get some love from the voters.  Could he be a future member of The Cubicle of the Unique?  Probably not, I think he will get around 10-15 votes for his defense alone.  I got this one for 85 cents shipped.  $3.42 remaining.

4. 1969 Topps #294 Jim Lemon

Well I have my first manager card from the 1960s.  Jim Lemon was a very good player in the late 50s / early 60s, finishing in the top 10 in MVP voting in 1959 with the original Senators franchise that became the Twins.  Here he is pictured in his only season as manager of the expansion Senators franchise that became the Texas Rangers.  But my god, what was Topps thinking with the back of this card?  The man lost his job and they aged him about 15 years and put a cartoon on there, wow.  The Senators finished last in the AL in 1968.  It was his only year as a major league manager.  He deserved more than a one year and out career.  Mr. Lemon passed away in 2006 at the age of 78.  I got this card for 40 cents shipped.  $3.02 remaining.

5. 1969 Topps #138 John Bateman

It seems like March is quickly becoming vintage month on the The Budget eBay Collector.  John Bateman was a journeyman big league catcher for 10 years with three different teams.  Neat fact alert, he was part of two of those franchise's special firsts, having caught the first no hitter in team history for both the Colt 45s and the Expos.  Mr. Bateman passed away in 1996 at the young age of 56.  I picked up his card for 40 cents shipped. (Same seller, different auction).  $2.62 remaining.

6. 2008 Topps Co Signers Silver/Red Pedro Martinez #'d 320/400

From my searches on eBay, I have noticed that there are a LOT of cards from both Pedro and Nomar listed at one penny with free shipping starting price.  I guess they come from a retiring Red Sox collector or something, even though this card pictures him from his Mets days.  Anyway,  this is the most common parallel of the approximately 395 parallel versions of this card (22 actually).  I spent 50 cents on this card.  $2.12 remaining.

7. 2008 Topps Co Signers Silver/Blue Pedro Martinez #'d 211/250

Another of my same seller, different auction purchases.  That me feel better about picking up these cards for usually less than postage and fees, but I don't really feel THAT bad anyway.  The sellers have the first option on price and know the chance they are taking by starting at one penny with free shipping in order to increase viewership.  Anyway, this is another parallel from the same set, except for some reason Oliver Perez is on this one.  I got this cheaper than the more common parallel.  I guess Oliver Perez does suck that much.  I got it for 41 cents shipped. $1.71 remaining (this challenge is in the bag)

8. 2006 Flair Showcase #182 Brandon Webb #'d 113/150

This revelation may surprise some of my readers, but as much as I dislike the D-Bags (oops, sorry D-Backs fans but they had to know that would happen when they named them) I have always liked Brandon Webb.  Why you ask, because he pitched for the University of Kentucky and he is a Kentucky boy.  I really hope he can make a comeback, because he went from one of the best in the league to forgotten very quickly.  That being said I always loved it when the Rockies beat him and I don't really collect him.  I seem to remember that there is a Brandon Webb collector out there, but I don't know who it is.  Never mind, I found him and this card is hopefully in his hands as of now.  I got this card for 41 cents shipped.  $1.30 remaining.

9. 2001 Fleer Legacy Ultimate #36 Manny Ramirez #'d 101/250

This is nice card of Manny before he became a complete dill-hole, but he is with Boston so he is was rapidly approaching that status at this point.  Aside from my personal bias, I really like this card even though it is a tad plain.  Sometimes simple is the best way to go with designs.  The only thing that would make this card better would be the placement of the team name and player position.  It looks awkward running up the card.  I picked this one up for 36 cents shipped.  $0.94 remaining (I think there might be a bonus card or two this month).

10. 1994 Pinnacle Artist's Proof #220 Armando Reynoso

This is the first Rockie of this month.  The Artist's Proof was Pinnacle main parallel throughout all of their sets in the mid 90s.  This parallel was basically just the Gold Stamp on the front, but some in other sets that I have seen these parallels look pretty good.  Onto Reynoso, he was the first Rockie "ace" in the expansion year.  He was plucked from the Braves in the expansion draft and traded to the Mets in 1996 for Jerry DiPoto.  I picked up this card for 17 cents shipped.  $0.77 remaining for bonus card(s).

Bonus 1. 1997 SP Marquee Matchups #MM2 Andres Galarraga

Well this is an insert, so it doesn't technically fall under the rules of the game, but since it is a bonus card (and a Rockie, of course) I consider it fair play.  Andres was the first star of the Rox with his run at .400 during the expansion year after several good years in Montreal and one bad year with the Cardinals (who I assume still hate him).  This is m first 1997 SP card and I like the look of this insert.  Shipping was the big issue with this card, I paid on 3-16 and it didn't get to my mailbox until 4-7.  I still consider this fair game, because it should have arrived well before March ended.  I got this beauty for 31 cents shipped.  $0.46 remaining.

Bonus 2. 2005 Upper Deck Reflections purple parallel Joel Peralta #'d 38/99

A pretty nice card of one of the worst Rockies pitchers ever.  Of course, he is an Angel in this card and was a Royal after that, but came to Colorado in 2009.  He is pitching for Washington and doing a pretty good job.  This fact makes his 2009 stint with the Rockies even more annoying.  Anyway I bought this card for 31 cents shipped.  $0.15 remaining and with that I will call it a month, since I went 11 cents over budget in January.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON MARCH

That brings an end to the March Budget eBay Collector.  Here are my January results for comparison.  Which month was better?  Personally I think I did much better in March, but had more fun with it in January.  Not that it wasn't fun in March, but the sequel is often less fun than the original.  I think the biggest problem was that I won the first 9 cards by the 3rd of the month and couldn't get card #10 until the 16th.  I lost 81 auctions in a row before the Reynoso.  I was going for the home run with 94 cents remaining, but finally decided 3 singles would get the same run across the plate.

My last February hauls from eBay

In preparation for my latest foray into The Budget eBay Collector, I spent the last week of February buying like crazy on my favorite site.  Here is what I got back, including my first non-plate 1/1 (AND IT'S A GREAT ONE for me anyway).

These three 2010 Topps National Chicle Chrome Refractors #'d to 499 I got in a lot for the very nice price of $3.06 shipped.  I would've figured just the Wright would go for more than that.  I guess I was lucky that the seller didn't mention any of the players in the title.  I bought this lot for the Ubaldo, the other two are for trade (Better hurry the Wright will be snapped up approximately 3.6 seconds after publishing this post).

I got this lot of 6 2010 Topps Chrome Xfractors for about a buck a piece with a best offer feature.  I think I finally figured out the best way to scan the 2010 Chromes.  Penny sleeve in a top loader, then crop...they scanned pretty well compared to the Chicles above which I scanned card only.  In this lot I only wanted the Hawpe and trade bait, the other 5 are up for grabs and shouldn't last long given the teams involved.

 

What's this card from the overproduction era doing in my eBay buys?  Well, I tried one of those 1 random card for a penny deals and my random came up to be this 1989 Bowman Andy Hawkins, could've been worse I guess.  The best thing I remember about Hawkins was his 8 inning no hitter in 1989 in which he lost 4-0 (gotta love defense).  The Tulo is a 2007 Upper Deck Rookie of the Month insert for the rare month of Postseason.  I think it only comes around every other leap year, seriously couldn't they have put October.

 

I got this lot of 9 Tommy Helms cards in pretty good condition ranging from 1969-1977 for a VERY cheap price of 82 cents shipped.  Once again the lack of info from the seller paid off for me, because he couldn't identify the 1969 Deckle Edge or 1969 Topps All Star cards.  In an ideal world, I would feel guilty for taking advantage of this type of situation, but they have access to the same info I can get.  I just take a little time to know the products I am purchasing.  The extra 1970 Topps Helms is for trade and the card number is 159 for you set builders out there.

AND NOW FOR THE CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH PORTION OF OUR SHOW

I picked up this Razor Letterman "I" numbered 16/20 for $7 and change.  It is the second I in Friedrich.  I always wondered if players with multiple appearances of the same letter in their name had a proportional number of letters available.

This 2008 Razor Signature Series Black parallel auto #447/1199 was included in a package for the next card down the page.  By itself, this card would've been a nice purchase as it is my first non-patch auto of Friedrich.  But with this next card, it was a great deal.

The 2009 Tristar Projections purple parallel of Christian Friedrich #'d 1/1.  Yep, I am the only person in the world with this card and I already had the base, green /50, and yellow /25 for this set.  All I need now is the orange /5 and I have a pretty cool rainbow.  The seller was asking $55 + shipping for both cards, I best offered him down to $40 bucks total for both.  It wasn't a slam dunk, out-of-site best bargain ever type of purchase, but I don't think I got a bad deal here.  And for the player super collector the time to buy a rare card is the first time you see it because you might never get it otherwise.

My Spastikmooss Trade Bait Draft Results

Earlier this week Tim (aka Spastikmooss) over at The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame held a draft from his trade bait.  There were six of us that bought in and I gotta say it was a blast for me, a much better time I would've had watching the Oscars that night.  I ended up drawing the 6th and final draft position, which was not really that bad because I still got what I wanted for the most part.  And the best part was since it was a snake draft, I got to pick twice back-to-back and spend a lot more time checking the lists for my next picks.  The first few rounds of the draft were dominated by relics and autos and a few vintage cards.  There weren't any Rockies or anything else that I particularly wanted for myself so I decided to draft for others in the beginning and work out some trades later.

I was undecided on whether to make this a Rockie Trading Post (I didn't really trade for them) or a group break results (nothing was broken aside from Tim's computer) or what, but I think just a simple I got these cards post will work.  Let's see what I got for my minimal $10 purchase shipping included (a whole lotta pics).

My first two picks were these beauties.  My first rounder was this 2003 Upper Deck Headliners Roy Halladay jersey that I got for a trade that is brewing with Julie from Things are Funner Here.  Hopefully she needs/wants it.  My second pick was a 2001 SP Game Bat Milestone Edition Roberto Alomar bat card.  It is currently offered to Jack the Baseball Dad from All Tribe Baseball.

My next two picks are honestly the last two I remember the exact order for and after I got them in I realized how Cleveland heavy my top of the draft was.  First up is a 2002 Gridiron Kings Tim Couch jersey from the Browns numbered 384/400.  It is for trade, but since I collect UK basketball players it wouldn't be completely out of place in my collection either.  Then we have my oldest non-buyback card ever a 1965 Topps Chico Salmon in surprisingly great shape.  I never have collected much vintage, even as a kid I always preferred them no older than me.  This one I am definitely keeping.

The next up is a 2006 Jay Cutler rookie card.  I am neither a Bronco fan nor a football collector, but I am a HUGE Bears fan and I spotted a rookie of the starting QB and I jumped at it.  The 2008 Upper Deck Goudey Harmon Killebrew is a red back mini that I had spotted on David's (aka Rhubarb Runner) want list over at e rayhahn rayhahn.  I have one card that he wants set aside for him and this one is going to headed to him as well if he still needs it.

 

I also picked up this 2008 Topps Co Signers Scott Kazmir / Matt Garza card #'d 28/150.  I never really understood the whole concept of Co Signers, because to me this is a Scott Kazmir card with an unecessary image of Garza on the front.  If you just saw the back you'd have no idea Garza was even a part of the card.  This card is for trade.

Up next is a 1984 Fun Foods pin of Hall of Famer Rod Carew.  A total of three of these pins went in the draft with the others being George Brett and Rickey Henderson.  After seeing the pin in person, I remembered having a bunch of these when I was eight or nine years old.  They went the way of the rest of my childhood collection, to unknown oblivion, so it now one of The Pins my Momma Threw Out.  I couldn't leave the draft without picking up one of the several cards of Fred McGriff, Baseball Superstar available.  Tim and I share the Crime Dog as our favorite player.

These two were an added bonus to the draftees.  These two 1981 Topps cards were a former bipping to Tim and he sent each of the six of us one copy of each.  I don't know about everyone else, but I actually needed them for my budding 1981 set.  Thank you for the extras and the A's colors were probably my favorite of the '81 set.

Heading into the draft I knew beforehand there were 15 Rockies that I needed from Tim's lists, we all got to pick 25 cards so after the 9th round I knew I needed to start on my Rox.  My favorite of these three is the 1994 Leaf Gold Leaf Rookie Marcus Moore.  I discovered during the draft chat that I had accidentally become a Marcus Moore supercollector since I have pretty much every card ever made of him as a Rockie.

Up next are two players that I had 0 cards of as a Rockie.  I was surprised I didn't have a Kirt Manwaring.  Some of you may be aware that one of my goals this year was to collect one card of every Rockie that ever played a game in the proper uniform.  If you were not aware here is the link for my Mountains to Climb in 2011.  I am at nearly 50% completion with 190/412 total players.  Once I hit the 50% mark or so I will put up a want list for the rest some of which I don't think ever had a Rockie card made.

Two draft pick cards are up next.  Unlike most draft pick cards, both of these guys actually made the majors and had varying degrees of success.  Francis had the greater success of the two before he got brought down by injuries and is currently a member of the Royals.  I hope he has a nice comeback for an up and coming team.

I got a few more cards from the 1997 Circa set, which I have previously identified as perhaps the ugliest set of all time.  My opinion has not changed, although I still want to knock out the Rockies team set.  I have 7/14 Rox before putting this team set out of its misery.

A pair of 1995 cards are up next including the 1995 Fleer set that I consider the second ugliest set of all time.  Just remember some of these horrible mid 90s designs the next time you are upset by the Topps monopoly.  My favorite of my Rockies selections is the 1996 Skybox E-XL Ellis Burks red border.  I have one of these of Jamal Mashburn, but hadn't seen a baseball player until now.  The border is a felt-like material that is very nice.

My final two needed Rockies were more recent.  The 2011 Ubaldo Jimenez base card puts me at 3 for this year's set.  I haven't been pursuing the 2011s very hard at all.  The 2008 Upper Deck X of Troy Tulowitzki is actually quite nice.  I never bought any of this set, but the word around Blogland was it was a very disappointing product.  I sorta like it.

Finally we come to the BEST CARD EVER.  Since I had the last pick of the first round, I knew I would have the honor of picking Mr. Irrelevant.  I searched the lists and came with the perfect card to honor the host of the draft, Spastikmooss.  A 1997 Beanie Babies Chocolate the Moose of course.  I wonder if Kidstuff will give me a discount or sponsorship fee for publicizing their website and fax number (Eh probably not).  I am going to keep this card in a place of honor as a nice remembrance of my Oscar night draft.


Boy, that was a long post, but well worth it.  I definitely think I got my money's worth out of this draft and I hope they catch on with other bloggers.  Check out Tim's site here and trade him some cup and cooler cards.