Rockie Trading Post #27 - Special Returning Guest David from e rayhahn rayhahn

Welcome to the latest edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight's special returning guest is David (aka Rhubarb Runner) from e rayhahn rayhahn.  David is making his second appearance on TRTP having previously appeared on episode #7.  In case you have forgotten, David loves the Twins and has such an extensive collection that it is sometimes hard to find something he needs.  I hope my Rockies collection gets somewhere close to that eventually.  This post is actually a 2 in 1 trade post because I hadn't gotten to posting about one trade before we had a second completed and received.  Yes I am a tad bit behind.  Anyway, I sent a Harmon Killebrew Goudey mini from my Spastikmooss draft (yes, him again) and a few Heritage cards and in return I got these new beauts.  Let's take a look.

The star of the first package from David is this short printed Troy Tulowitzki.  Tulo seems to get short printed every year in Heritage.  When David sent this card I needed it for my set, then I pulled another Tulo out of my final retail box.  That works out fine because now I have one for my Rockies binder also.

David also sent me several cards for my Opening Day master set.  My goal is to have this set completed including the blue parallels and autos by the All Star Game.  I think I have a pretty good shot at it.

Here we have more Opening Day.  The two Rockies are going to my Rockie binder.  I am now just a Carlos Gonzalez away from having a 2nd card of each Rockie for the team set.

Next we have a sort of blah photo of Seth Smith from 2009 O Pee Chee.  This stands out because Smith and Eric Young Jr. are usually the best Rockie photos in most card sets.  Also included was my first gold parallel from 2008 UD Documentary.  I don't know what it is about my luck, but nearly every card I have from this set is from a Rockies loss.

A couple more Documentaries featuring losses to the Dodgers.  Colorado was just shy of splitting the season series (8-10) with L.A. in 2008, I think I have a card from nearly every Rockie loss vs. L.A. in this set and none of the wins.

This is the second trade package that arrived from David.  It was a small Heritage trade of Twins for needs.  The Ryan Braun completes my NL All Star team which was not short printed.  My goal on the Heritage is to have it (including high series) complete by the end of the year.  I love this set so much.  I am sort of glad that a lot of bloggers are kind of turned off by the head shots or simple photography in general.  That means better chances at short prints for me and more easily available cards during trades.

Thanks again David for the trade and I hope my 3rd trade package has already reached you by now.  Check out his blog here for some super sweet Twins knowledge along with other great stuff from this Renaissance man.  Well that just about wraps up this edition of The Rockie Trading Post, but before we go I have one bit of news regarding TRTP.  I am BEHIND in these because of all the great traders out there in blogland.  I am sticking to my belief that every trader deserves their own post/plug, so I will start an upcoming editions on the sidebar with a link to each trader's blog since it might take a little while to get your trade posted here.  Sound good?  Tune in next time for a first time visitor to the Quarry from Orioleville.  Until then, we are officially signed off.

March Group Break Results from Cardboard Collection - Part 2 The Rockies

Well I finally have time to post part two of the group break results from Cardboard Collections.  Here are the winnings that posted about in Part One.  All of those cards that were for trade are now on their way to new owners.  I consider that a fantastically successful second team in a group break.  But now we come to the meat of the break for me, the Rockies.  This post will actually incorporate both the group break and a side trade that Colbey and myself completed during the break.  I am doing it this way to save time and energy...oh who am I kidding?  I am doing it this way because I'm not real sure what is break and what is trade, but hey let's figure it out together.

These 3 are 1994 Collector's Choice Series 1 Silver Signature parallels.  Colbey got this box as a replacement for a sticky cards problem with one of the two original break boxes.  I already the base team set from Series 1, but I didn't have any of these silver sigs so I am happy.  i really like how the Hayes and Young cards sort of act like "pop up bookends."

This is the box that was replaced.  A 1994 Score that had the same mid-90s stickiness problem that a lot of cards have suffered from in their 15 years+ sitting in packs.  When I first got back into the hobby I bought a jumbo box of 1995 Topps and had the same problem.  Colbey still sent the cards along and none of my Rockies were damaged more than slightly.  They are good enough for a place holder in my binder and I may never replace them.

This was the other promised box, 1994 Fleer.  I picked a good portion of the team set out of this break, I think I only missed like 7 or so.  I chose to show these two cards because they show the expansion Rockies experimental "bat workout" video.  Benavides is the "and 1" and Tatum is the "and 2."

These two cards came out of the "bonus" packs that were part of the break.  The Matt Holliday is a 2005 Topps Opening Day rookie cup card.  I like the blue foil that Topps used to use for OD, but I am much happier with the no foil version from this year's set.  The 1996 Sportsflics Andres Galarraga was my favorite card of the entire break.  This card came out of a 100 card jumbo repack.  Expansion teams usually do not do well in repacks, and this was the only Rockie in the pack.  But man what a payoff it was. 

I think this is where the trade begins and a nice beginning it is.  A 2003 Upper Deck Standing O die cut parallel of Todd Helton.  I have one for my Jamal Mashburn collection, but this is my first baseball card from this set.  I think it works, but it has the same storage problem as minis.  There is a reason Topps set the standard baseball card size as learned in The History of Topps insert set.  It's all about easy storage and displaying.

This is a 1998 Donruss Collections Neifi Perez.  Donruss Collections was a similar set to Topps Fusion in that it basically took the stars out of each Donruss set and rebranded them into one set.  Thankfully this idea did not last very long.  I will always take another Tulo rookie.  I know I had several of the 2007 First Edition Tulos, but I think this was my first from the main set.

Okay here's a lesson on the good and bad about parallels.  First the good, the gold parallels for 2008 Topps are my favorite parallel ever.  I think they actually look a lot better than the base design from that year, at least the Rockies do with the purple and gray bubbles.  With the good comes the bad, the 2008 Topps Gold Foil parallel is one of the more useless parallels ever, not the worst ever (those would be the various card back parallels) but there was no need for these to be made.

This is a 2009 SP Authentic rookie of Jhoulys Chacin.  Chacin will be the key to a playoff run this year for the Rox in my opinion.  If he has a breakout year, the division will belong to Colorado barring other unforeseen circumstances.  The insert is a pretty cool one from 2010 Upper Deck.  The Tape Measure Shots showcases the longest home runs hit during the 2009 season.  I like all the info provided on just the card front, it tells me everything I need to know about this home run.

Finally we come to a first for me.  This 2010 Bowman Green Xfractor of first base prospect Mike Zuanich is my first from that parallel set.  It isn't numbered, but it does definitely look cool.  The 2010 Bowman Gold parallel of Rockie superstar Carlos Gonzalez is honestly kind of a boring card, but look for him to challenge for MVP again this year.  He is already off to a hot start.


That wraps up March's group break from Colbey.  I am definitely getting in on April's for the Rockies and probably another team as well to rebuild some team trade bait.  I have thought about running a group break here at the Quarry and may do so during the dog days of summer.  I will definitely be asking Colbey (and others) for tips because his breaks are usually some of the most fun in blog land.

Sunday's Afternoon Blaster - 2009 Upper Deck Goudey

Welcome to today's edition of The Sunday Afternoon Blaster.  I am going once again with an older Upper Deck discount blaster.  This time with the unpronounceable set.  Is is GOO-di or GOW-di?  Anyway this is the 2009 version of this set.  I hated the 2007 version because it was all minis and very hard to store.  The 2008 version was better, but still had the 2 different back colors on minis and had Derek Jeter's mug on half of the set.  The 2009 version I had never opened, but it got a lot of hate on blogs.  I am fairly certain that I will not be collecting this set, so the goal here is as many Rox as possible AND the ugliest card in the set Dave Concepcion.

Card coloration is it's availability

white = I'm keeping it

green = available for trade

red = already claimed/traded

Today's blaster is 2009 Upper Deck Goudey.  8 eight card packs, nothing guaranteed.


On with the show.

pack one

82 Lance Berkman - Astros

22 Jason Bay - Red Sox

35-35 4 in 1 Upton/Longoria/Pena/Crawford green border - Rays

35-55 4 in 1 Jones/Wright/Atkins/Ramirez red border - various 3B

135 Alex Rodriguez - Yankees

147 Mark Teahan - Royals

148 Jack Cust - Athletics

184 Evan Longoria - Rays

pack two

94 Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers

32 Daisuke Matsuzaka - Red Sox

20 Cal Ripken Jr. - Orioles

208 Nolan Ryan - Rangers SP - Brian

UD 20th Retro - 907 Vladimir Guerrero - Expos

195 Vernon Wells - Blue Jays

136 Chien-Ming Wang - Yankees

124 Jonathon Niese - Mets

pack three

70 Carlos Guillen - Tigers

10 James Parr - Braves

66 Garrett Atkins - Rockies

54 Jay Bruce - Reds

78 Josh Johnson - Marlins

159 Brad Lidge - Phillies

111 Ben Sheets - Brewers

196 Alex Rios - Blue Jays

pack four

34 Curt Schilling - Red Sox

90 Mark Teixeira - Yankees

42 Carlos Zambrano - Cubs

35-44 Kendrick/Guerrero/Hunter/Figgins red border - Angels

183 David Price - Rays

171 Matt Cain - Giants

160 Edwin Encarnacion - Reds

112 CC Sabathia - Yankees

pack five

77 Dan Uggla - Marlins

46 Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners

284 Ryan Braun Heads Up - Brewers SP - Spiegel

39 Aramis Ramirez mini green back - Cubs

170 Wade LeBlanc - Padres

123 John Maine - Mets

128 Johan Santana - Mets

172 Tim Lincecum - Giants

pack six

41 Kerry Wood - Indians

65 Dexter Fowler - Rockies

18 Nick Markakis - Orioles

6 Dan Haren - Diamondbacks

114 J.J. Hardy mini green back - Brewers

134 Phil Hughes - Yankees

176 Erik Bedard - Mariners

131 Francisco Cervelli - Yankees

pack seven

5 Brandon Webb - Diamondbacks

89 Vladimir Guerrero - Angels

79 Carlos Lee - Astros

91 Garret Anderson - Braves

3 Stephen Drew mini black back - Diamondbacks #'d 08/21

35-68 Kennedy/Chamberlain/Buchholz/Masterson red border - overhyped Yankee/Sox prospects

110 Yovani Gallardo - Brewers

194 Travis Snider - Blue Jays

pack eight

17 Brian Roberts - Orioles

19 Jed Lowrie - Red Sox

55 DAVE CONCEPCION - REDS!!!

232 Stan Musial Sports Royalty - Cardinals SP - Fan of Reds

182 B.J. Upton - Rays

122 Delmon Young - Twins

164 Matt Antonelli - Padres

152 Lou Marson - Phillies

IMPRESSIONS
Design: D+
This is a painted set, which works for some, but I personally don't like that much.  What makes it worse is that some of the artists here make Dick Perez look like Da Vinci.  Why are there so many painted cards with the wrong uniform?  It's not like they had to wait for a picture or anything.  Overall kind of bleh for me, but I can see how some people might gravitate toward these types of sets.

Inserts / Hits: B-
I got all excited after the first four packs thinking that they skipped minis in 2009.  Then came 3 in the last four packs.  The 4 in 1's are sort of odd.  Do each of them have several parallel colored borders or does each have a specific color?  The one thing I have always loved about Goudey in general is the Heads Up subset, they are just so fun.  Some may say that they are designed for kids, but technically so is our entire hobby.

Value: A-
Not horrible, but I still prefer a guaranteed hit in a blaster.  After looking through deciding which mini to scan I noticed the numbering on the mini and getting a card #'d to 21 in a discount blaster is fantastic, even if it is some failed prospect or bench player or worse a Diamondback.  I did get three short prints including two of the greatest players of all time in Nolan Ryan and Stan the Man.  I will happy to trade each of the 3 SPs for 2011 Heritage SPs that I need.

Rox in the Box: 3
Finally, a decent showing for the Rox in an Upper Deck blaster.  I had 0 Rox from this set and there are a total of 5 base cards (including 2 in A's uniforms).  I knocked out the Garrett Atkins and another Fowler rookie card.  Plus I got the 4 in 1 with Atkins and 3 other third basemen that I didn't even know about.  One question though, why do they list the team name as the Colorado Rockies when all other teams are just the nickname?  Card companies need to realize that the Rox have been part of the league for 18 years now, people now know where they play.

Will I Collect This Set: F
Nothing in this blaster made me change my mind, so everything is up for trade. I do hope someone is collecting this set, because every set needs a little love from someone.

Overall: C
For me, this set hits a couple of my pet peeves.  Short prints, retired players in the base set (although I don't mind the Sports Royalty subset), and minis.  It does have only baseball players and there doesn't appear to be any ridiculous gimmickry so I'll bump it up to a C.  To me a C is not collectible as a set, but it was still fun to see for myself.

Rockie Trading Post #26 - Special Returning Guest Justin from Justin's World

Welcome to the latest episode of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight's special returning guest is Justin from Justin's World.  Justin was a guest on TRTP #11 and makes his grand return here on #26.  In case you missed it, Justin is a Cubs collector and a big time TTM fan.  This trade was requested by Justin who was seeking a silk card for his collection.  I had one that no one else seemed to want so away it went to Justin and here is his review of the trade.  In return he send me some goodies, here are some of them.

Let's start with our Todd Helton card of the day.  This is a 2008 Upper Deck X Xponetial insert.  It is the most common of the 3 phases, but who cares because I still didn't have it.  The card is kind of busy, but not really in a bad way.  I like the looks of this card and I think Upper Deck X has kind of gotten a bad rap as a set in general.

Here we have a trio of Rockies to add to the collection.  The Seth Smith is a rookie from 2008 Upper Deck First Edition.  I have stated before I think I prefer First Edition to the main set in 2008.  Who needs foil names?  The Jeff Salazar is also from First Edition, but one year earlier.  This is a 2007 First Pitch Foundations insert that focuses on young players.  The set also features Ubaldo and Tulowitzki, which I do not have if any of you have them lying around.  The J.D. Closser is from 2006 Fleer.  It fits in perfectly a disappointing Rockies catcher in a disappointing set reboot.  I wish real Fleer would come back.

Justin also sent me quite a few rookie cup cards.  Let's start off with a pair of players that made the team after only a partial season.  Dave Justice was called up in late May of 1990 and absolutely tore up Major League pitchers en route to the NL Rookie of the Year Award.  Mauer started the 2004 as the Twins catcher, but his season was cut very short due to injury.  He still made the All-Rookie team despite only playing 35 games.  I think this was due to the lack of rookie catchers elsewhere in the league that year, but obviously Mauer has proven to be a worthwhile selection.

Here is a pair of rookies from the 2006 Topps set.  Tadahito Iguchi had a good 2005 season and a decent sophomore season, but he quickly became nothing more than a journeyman back up middle infielder at least in the States.  He is currently back in Japan as the 2B for the Chiba Lotte Marines.  Then we come to future Rockie Huston Street.  Street was AL Rookie of the Year in 2005 as Oakland's closer and has proven to be one of the more reliable closers in the league. 

The final two new cup cards for me (from this trade anyway) were the 2007 Topps Justin Verlander and the 2009 Topps Joey Votto.  Verlander was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2006 and hasn't let up since.  He is one of the best pitchers in the American League and I hope he never goes to Boston or New York so I can continue to like him.  Votto is the guy that I would love to be the eventual replacement for Todd Helton at first base in Denver.  It will probably never happen, but he is a fun player to watch and I think he will be dominating for the next ten years plus.

Believe it or not, this 1988 Donruss #8 Devon White Diamond King is my favorite card from this trade.  Why? you ask would a card from one of the worst looking sets from the overproduction era be my favorite.  Because this card allows to use the greatest card blog phrase around "Joy of a completed set."  That's right I now no longer need any more 1988 Donruss cards.  I completed this set actually in 1988, but they became the actual Cards My Mother Threw Out.  Hmm, maybe Mom was onto something.  But no now 1988 Donruss can take its place alongside 1987 Topps and several others as (adult-collected) completed sets from my youth.

Thanks again Justin for the trade and we can do it again anytime.  Make sure you stop by his blog here and read about some Cubs and other baseball related matters.  Well that just wraps up this edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Join us next time for a 2 in 1 trade post with everyone's favorite Twins fan.  Until then, we are officially signed off.