Check This Out.

If you are interested in hand drawn pictures of your favorite player I suggest you check out this thread on Blow Out. http://http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/baseball-singles-buy-sell-trade/96047-hand-drawn-topps-sketch-cards.html. This guy has some real talent and will draw your fav player on a card. The Brian from Family Guy is really good. Go over and take a look.

Hit or Miss.Do We Have The Right To Complain?

It's that time of year again folks when the good people at Topps bring us Triple Threads. This retails at around $180 a box. In said box you will recieve 4 hits,two autos and two jersey or bat cards. As usual the checklist is loaded with great hits,including Babe Ruth GU,Ty Cobb GU,Pujols and A Rod autos,also included are the rising star cards. Rising stars include Jason Heyward,Austin Jackson and of course Topps favorite money maker Stephen Strasburg. Below are four cards which I borrowed from E Bay as an example as to what you might get in your $180 box.

First up is a GU of Hunter Pence star outfielder of the Astro's. Personally I like this card,but would I be prepared to hand over such a large sum of money to own it? Other than hard core Astro fans or Pence collecters I don't think this card has a great deal of value.

The second example of a GU card is the Mark Buehrle All Star Game Patch 1/1. This is a beautiful card, the actual All Star Game patch from Buehrle's jersey. This card is definatly worth handing over $180 to own. For a collecter it's a thing of beauty and for someone who is only in it to re sell it's going to bring in some serious wonga.

Moving on to the Autographs in the set. First example is a Chris Volstad Auto/Bat card 21/99. Now to be honest I don't really know much about Volstad apart from it was him who plunked Nyjer Morgan twicw to spark the Marlin/Nats brawl. The question that comes to my mind is should Volstad even be in such a high end product as Triple Threads? The rising star set also includes Scott Sizemore and Chris Getz. I understand that these guys are Major Leaguers and as such are at the top of their profession,but as we are paying so much for a box of cards should we expect better players?

The final example is the Strasburg 1/1. Just a lovely looking card and is Mr Money himself. Even though Strasburg is injured this is still going to bring in a lot of money if you decided to sell it.

The whole point of this post is this,do we as the buyer have the right to moan and whine like kids when our box only brings a Pence and Volstad. As the buyer it's our duty to check the list of players and see if we will get value for money. Should we be buying boxes just so we can resell the cards?I have searched the forums reading the box breaks of this product and some boxes have been amazing,others have been more than disappointing. I rarely break boxes due to the cost, I accept when I do break one my cards may not be awesome. If you are going to buy Triple Threads this year I wish you luck, and if you get a Garza or Wade Davis and want to sell it cheap you know where to come.

Happy box breaking my friends.

Ich Bin Ein Card Collector.

Something a little different today. Topps American Pie card commemorating JFK's speech at the Berlin Wall in 1961 (could be wrong). The card contains authentic remnants of the Berlin Wall or as my dear old Dad said "you have just got a card with some cement dust in it". Not really sure what made me buy this one, just nice to own a little bit of history I guess. Mind you with Topps record regarding relics it's probably from a wall in Berlin Conneticut. What would make a really cool JFK card? A piece of grass from the grassy knoll, sand from the Bay of Pigs?

Tell me folks,what would you like to see on a card? Not just sports cards but anything you like.

Another Mail Day.

First up from the last lot of mail I recieved we hav a Bowman Draft 2006 Blue Refractor 12/199,this was part of a trade I did with drays4life over on FCB. Chris has the most amazing collection of James Shields cards.His website is definatly worth taking a look at www.drays4life.com.

Secondly we have another James Shields 2007 Exquisite card,this one is Exquisite Endorsements and is #/50 this is the first I have with the red ink auto. Got this from SCF for $10 after I convinced the seller it was cool to send to the UK.

Next is possibly the coolest card I own. Bowman Sterling Black Refractor 17/25. This is the real deal and not a backdoor no number card, I have been conned by a seller for one of those. This little baby comes sealed in a Topps case. This was the second part of the deal with Chris. I really think I got the good end of the deal, I gave up a Jake McGee refractor auto and a Longoria Topps Tribute bat relic and got back the two refractors plus $10 paypal.

Next is a very cool looking John Jaso Bowman Xfractor 2008 auto. Not one I am particularly looking to keep,but I must admit I do find Xfractors very cool looking cards.

Last but not least is this little beauty, Cole Hamels 2008 Sweet Spot Auto 1/300. Yes indeed it's an E Bay 1/1, if anyone is interested this one is already listed on E Bay.

What A Series.

I only have one Dan Johnson card and as I have already shown it to you all, I have no option but to put up another James Shields.

Did you watch the Rays and Yankees series? If not you missed one of the best series played this year. Three games all deicded by one run, one walk off homer,one pinch hit homer and in tonights rubber game two homers for Dan Johnson and a best actor Oscar for Derek Jeter. I hope the Jeter incident doesn't overshadow what was a truely great series of baseball, other than the home runs already mentioned we had fantastic pitching from Sabathia and Price in game one. A slugfest in game two and a great fielding play by Curtis Granderson in the 9th inning. Tonights game gave us as much drama as my heart could handle. Shields battling away against a tough line up, Phil Hughes pitching a great game except for two mistakes to Johnson. Great baseball played by two very good teams. This is what the game is all about. Love it.

PS. Derek Jeter is a cheat, and yes if a Ray had done the same thing I would be calling them a cheat also.

PPS. The card is a 2010 A&G Rip card (Ripped).

All Respect Gone.

Derek Jeter held up as a bastion of fair play is a F@*kin cheat. See the acting job he did in the 7th inning of tonights game. I had always respected the way Jeter plays,but not now. Yes I understand the name of the game is to win,but come on!!! How the Umps missed the sound of the ball hitting the bat is beyond me.

Color Blind.

When I'm not searching for James Shields and Rays cards I like to pick up the odd Brooklyn Dodgers card. This card caught my eagle eye while I was browsing COMC.com. The guy on the left we all know, the guy on the right maybe not so much. We all know that Jackie Robinson was the man who broke MLB color barrier on April 15th 1947 playing for the Dodgers. Maybe some of our younger readers are unaware that Larry Doby was the first black player to play in the American League. Just eleven weeks after Robinson played for the Dodgers, Doby played his first game for the Cleveland Indians on July 5th 1947. Both men are in the Hall of Fame,Robinson a first ballot inductee in 1962, Doby voted in by veterens commitee in 1998. Lets see how their careers stacked up against each other.

Seasons Played. Robinson 10

Doby 13

All Star Games. Robinson 6

Doby 7

Batting Average Robinson .311 very nice

Doby .283 solid

Hits Robinson 1518

Doby 1515

Home Runs Robinson 137

Doby 253

RBI's Robinson 734

Doby 970

Stolen Bases Robinson 197

Doby 47.

Nice looking stats for both players,amazing that there are only 3 hits difference between them. Jackie Robinsons number 42 has been retired throughout baseball, after Mariano Rivera retires no one will ever wear 42 again. Larry Doby's number 14 has been retired by the Cleveland Indians but not by MLB.

1947 seems a very long time ago,even youngsters who got to see these guys play are now in their 70's. Can any of us imagine living in a time when people were excluded from playing a game because of their skin color? Can any of us understand the abuse and hatred these pioneers had to endure just to play a game? I love baseball and I love it because of men like Robinson and Doby,men who made a great game even better.

Vin Scully Legend.

Thanks to the Yankees playing a day game I am watching the Dodgers and Padres. Not a fan of either club, but man oh man I am a fan of Vin Scully. Vin has been the voice of the Dodgers for 61 years. Yes 61 years. The impressive thing's about Scully are that he does all the announcing,no annoying Joe Morgan style sidekick. He also has so many nuggets of information about each player,not just stats, but stories of past games stories of small town heroes. Tonight John Lindsey was in the on deck circle waiting to take his 1st ever major league at bat,Vin tells the viewers the story of the 16 year minor league vetrean, the Padres call for a pitching change and when we return from the ad break the Dodgers have put Either in to bat instead of Lindsey. Scully seems genuinely upset that Lindsey is not going to get his bat,this is what makes Vin Scully great, it's not me,me,me, it's all about the players. Unlike Joe Morgan-alikes there is no "this is what I do" or "when I played" rubbish. Vin Scully is the last great announcer and we should revere him and treasure him because he won't be around forever. Oh well tomorrow it's back to Michael Kay. Yay.

A Quick Plug.

Redsox101 is holding a group break and is looking for a few more takers, info can be found here
http://http://www.sportscardradio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=741. Nice boxes to be opened and a nice price.

Ugly,Ugly Card.

Here we have a very ugly card, it's a Diasuke Matsuzaka 2007 Turkey Red Rookie card. This has to be the ugliest card I have seen, the picture is just awful. It looks as if Dice K (how i hate that) is either about to do something nasty in his uniform pants or is about to have a stroke. I have never seen Mr Matsuzaka in real life so it may be this is how he looks, if not I would be very unhappy with a card that made me look this odd. The other thing that makes this card really ugly is of course it's a Red Sox player. Just kidding Red Sox fans. Or am I.

NCAA Football Off and Running

I love college football, I fell in love with it in 2003 when on vacation in Florida. The 2010 season kicked off on Thursday, but my team the Temple Owls started their season Friday evening against the Villanova Wildcats. As usual the Owls made heavy weather of beating their 1AA opponents. Unlike last year though they did beat the Wildcats, the Owls could be in line to win the MAC conference this year. This would be a fantastic achievement for a program that was in the toilet for a long time. Last year the Owls went 9-4 their first winning season since they went 7-4 in 1990 thats along time between winning seasons. The Owls were even kicked out of the Big East conference for being so bad. One man has turned the team around Al Golden, since Goldens arrival the team has improved year on year and are now in line for a possible conference win. Go Owls.

Why you may ask does a guy from the UK follow a team like the Owls. Simple I love to support an underdog. I follow the Rays in baseball and have since 2003 when they were awful. I support Colchester United football team and believe me they have not got a glorious history, so when it came time to pick a NCAA football team the Owls were my only choice.

Ohhh Rats!!!

My Strasburg,actually it belongs to my sister and me. My dear sister went on vacation to the states and brought back a few packs of Bowman 2010. No Strasburg, a few weeks ago she bought a blaster on E Bay. This week she finally got around to opening it. Talk about bad timing. Oh well I guess its still worth a bit of cash to someone.

Rain Delay.

The Rays got mullered 13-5. My scanner has gone on the Fritz, I seen to have picked up a fever of some sort and to cap it all off we are having the monsoon storm from hell right now. I just spent the last 15 minutes making sure the hatches were well and truely battened down in the old homestead. The only god thing about a storm like this is that it shuts up my neighbours fighting cocks ( I live in the Philippines at the moment). I thought a cock was only supposed to crow at dawn, not these buggers, every minute of everyday one of them is cock a doodle dooing. I wish they would cock a doodle don't.

So how do you cheer yourself up on a day like today? You show off one of your favorite cards. A James Shields Exquisite Phenoms Gold Auto 11/15. What I love most about this card is the look on Shield's face, a look left over from old portraits of 18th century nobles. This is not the look of a man who is going to surrender six home runs in one game. This is the look of a man who will shoot game birds before retiring to the study for brandy,the look of a man who may do something unsavoury to the under maid. So I have decided when i have a day like today I am just going to adopt the Shields face and everything will be ok. If you ever see a six five slightly overweight Englishman moaning about noisy fighting cocks, take a look at his face,because if he is wearing this look come over and say hi to me.

ps. Anyone trading with me should know all my trades are handled from the UK. My dad does all the posting and shipping, so don't worry if you were thinking they were coming from the soggy Philippines.