Cracking me up : a trade with Julie

I have a very good friend in Julie (now now, don't be jealous, I love some of you too), and it's always a real treat to get one of her boxes in the mail, as I know it'll always be filled with fun stuff and great cards.

And a great (big) box it was, one that traveled across the ocean in just four days, and one that turned a crappy day (my Saturday was NOT going well) into a day filled with stars and fireworks.

Look at those beauties ! A paperback that was on my list of books to read (someone told me about it, but I can't remember who...maybe Tony ?), a George Bell plaque that was on no list of mine whatsoever and that may be one of the ugliest memorabilia ever made (which of course makes it awesome) - the joys of the 80s - , a very cool Joe Carter Starting Lineup that will soon be unsealed so I can display it on my desk (sorry George, you won't be making the cut) and finally, if you look closely, you'll see a Minion....dog tag ! Yup, absolutely. It isn't Kevin but hey, close enough.

Julie was afraid there would be a lot of cards I already had, but it turns out that she hardly sent any duplicates, and all the cards I'll be showing here are ones I needed for my collection.

Yup, I did not own Delgado's Bowman RC. Shame on me. Not sure I need a graded copy, but it's still a nice addition ! (oooooh, 9 !!)

One of a handful of Topps Chrome Blue Jays autos (the Devon Travis is on its way thanks to Jeff). This one is numbered out of 499.

When you're a team collector, you also collect purple 91 classic cards. It's part of the process.

Some old 86 mini cards (and complete Blue Jays set), and some new. And Dickey isn't blurry, he's just 3Dish.

Shiny Delgados !

A little bit of everything. The Wells is clear acetate and looks great, I love those Fan Favorites cards, it's always great to add new Carter cards, along with 90s inserts !

I love those oddball sets. Quaker Chewy granola bars. Quaker CHewy cards. Can't beat that. We do have Quaker Oats, here. Nobody buys it, but we have it.

 Those cards don't really fit my collection, but they must've been sent for a reason. I'm assuming the Buchholz one looks like a Blue Jays jersey (it's not) and 90s Alomar usually wears a Blue JAys uniform. I've added Mets cards to my general collecting needs, so I guess that's why they're included (and again, love those Fan Favorites)

Julie always includes cards that make me chuckle. To kill a mockingjay...now that's not very nice ! Chocolate covered sticks for beavers. Now that's a candybar filled with Canadian promise ! A couple of French boats, and one flag for my mom (she's from Toronto) and one for my dad (he's 100% French)

Whenever Julie sees basketball cards somewhere in her LCS, she picks them up for me. And I needed that Marbury for my very slow to grow Knicks collection.

Despite the huge box TJ sent me, I still (amazingly) need 18 000 Griffeys. Including those. And the 93 SC is one of my all time favorites (for sentimental reasons), so I'm happy to add that members only copy.

I really need to add more Bo Jackson football cards, I don't nearly have enough. And that Bo Breaker just may be one of the greatest cards ever made. I never could find a copy at what I deemed a reasonable price (IE less than .25 cts), so I was psyched to see it included !

Plenty of PC (nice Big Hurt in a football uni), including oddballs !

Julie collects Tigers, so it means a lot that she'd pass those along

Keith Hernandez cannot look bad on cardboard. Must be the mustache. "Chef Boyardee, 1988 1st annual Collector's edition". Wow.

I never get to scan Bieber cards, as I'm the one sending them out. But I Biebered P Town Tom, who re-Biebered Julie, who re-re-Biebered it, return to sender style. But you won't get rid of them that easy !

Thanks a lot, Julie, you brought a lot of joy in my little heart. I'll find a way to keep the ball rolling...

Box Break : 97 Stadium Club

I have a lot of catching up to do with the collecting world, having left it in the mid 90s. The task of keeping up with today's products is way less daunting than trying to learn about what's been going on in the past 20 years, but I always seem to come back to the 90s.

I left Stadium Club in 94/95 with 600 to 700 card sets, and here we are in 97 with a 390 set. I found a series II box at a reasonable price (ie less than $25), so of course I jumped on it.

Those are parallels. Inserted 2 per box (24 packs and 9 cards per pack). I'm quite happy with the players I got, as Big Hurt is PC, and Nomo is definitely mid-90s baseball card collecting. NOMOMANIA

Not many inserts in 97 Stadium Club, but at least it's a sweet hologram. So yay. Plus, Andruw Jones is on my list on the right. Seeded one per box.

Another one per box insert, and another Andruw Jones . I guess it's a Jones hot box. That would've been really cool in...well, in 97.

This here is a subset/insert. It's included with the base cards, but they are SP. I like the design and its simplicity. Plus, there's a Griffey in there.

Walt ! (the runner's out)

Those four cards were needed for my collection (another Andruw Jones), and it's insane that I was missing a Joe Carter Stadium Club card.

And of course, as always with Stadium club, you get stellar photography, this time on 20 pt card stock, with full bleed pics and plenty of foil and gloss.

Now, I need to find a series 1 box....

Jay barker passes to Bob Walk who passes to Papoy

Quick post to show off some cards sent by Wes. He put up for grabs (well, for trade) some cards a while back, and I claimed the following three (you were allowed up to three cards and yeah, I'm greedy).

 I don't necessarily collect Braves, Orioles nor Javy Lopez, but I like Prime patches, and I like the color orange. It's numbered /56

I do collect Frank Thomas cards, though, and here's a nice stripe !

I liked him more as an Indian, but I think those Museum collection quad relics look nice, even all in grey.

Wes sent all of these to Matt so he'd pass them along to me (Matt is kind of my own PO box, and I thank him for that). Of course, Wes being Wes, he also included some BLue Jays for my collection

I'm a big fan of SPx, a big fan of Wells, a big fan of Delgado, so yay. And not everyday do I add a yellow Blue Jays swatch to my collection.

 A little bit of everything, including a Joe Carter I needed, from a set that's always confused me. WHy on earth did Stadium Club issue these ?

ANd finally, an almost complete 93 Classic Dunedin Blue Jays set (27 cards).

Thanks a lot Wes (and Matt), you shoul've received my return package by now ! And good luck on your Desert Shield project, I'll miss sending you autos !

Bob & Papoy do (Dallas) Stadium Club

Ok, Matt is in San Antonio, not Dallas, but I still think my title is funny.

Anyway, I received my end of our monthly box breaks, namely a box of 2015 Stadium Club. I know they've been shown to death, but it's such a gorgeous set that it deserves it.

As expected with Stadium Club, you get beautiful base cards, inserts that are half interesting, parallels that are pointless, and very common on-card autos that can be found for very cheap on Ebay. All this in a 16 pack/8 card box (in the same package, I received a 93 Leaf box, with 36 packs and 14 cards per pack. The stack is much higher). I'm being a little sarcastic because that's just who I am, but I still enjoyed busting open those packs, despite the fact that the box cost me about $110, if I factor in shipping and customs.

Let's see if it was worth it, knowing that I have the NL teams + Blue Jays and Matt has AL + Pirates (hint : nope, not worth it)

The good thing about the break is that the hits were evenly distributed. We each got an auto (his is a bit better), which is always a good thing, and exactly what we're looking for. We wouldn't want jealousy to tear our friendship apart ! I don't have much to say about Alcantara, sorry ! I'm sure he's a nice guy.

The Mays is pretty nice. And at least, I got this season's two best hitters in the NL (yes, that statement is open for debate. And I'm not talking about Harvey).

black boring parallel (cool card though)

boring gold parallels (yes, I know Bo Jackson isn't an NL player, but Matt was kind enough to let me have it (let's not take that sentence out of context))

And now, for the base cards you've seen hundreds of times :

Horizontaaaaaaaaaaaaals

So there you go. Incredible looking cards, but considering what they cost me, it'd been simpler to just buy a complete set, especially since I don't care much about the inserts or parallels. In an ideal world, I would've gotten the Donaldson auto, but you can't always get what you want, as they say.

Along with a box of 93 Leaf, I also bought a couple of 2014 Heritage blasters. There were the usual inserts and SPs, but there also was that card :

Which is a pretty lucky pull to get in a blaster (it's seeded 1:720), plus it's a Blue Jays player. So yay ! Here I am, all excited about a game used patch numbered out of 99...maybe I'm not sarcastic enough after all


ps : just saw that this was my 200th post ! Congrats to me !

A Bugs Bunny and Simply Red special

My good friend Matt found the time between two baseball and football games and before long travels to ship out some cards to everybody in the blogosphere (well, almost everybody), including an envelope that made it overseas to me (yay).

Matt is known for his generosity (which is common ground among our tight-knit group) and for always finding the perfect cards that'll suit your collection to the point (I have no idea if my English is idiomatic or not. Ah well. You get what I mean). As you all know, we have monthly box breaks, and each time we send the other's winnings, we'll also include some cards for our ongoing trading. And it seems like he's always setting the bar just a little higher each time around.

I won't have much to show box break wise, as Matt got most of the hits (4 autos in Hometown Heroes and a very nice hit in DK with a low numbered (/5) Joc Pederson auto and relic).

The Hosmer is numbered /99 and is still a nice looking card, despite the fact that the swatches are a bit bland.

I won't show any base cards of neither DK nor Hometown Heroes, as you all know them by now.

Now, as for the trade aspect of the package. And I suggest you sit tight, as it packs a great bunch.

First up, my very first Wizzard swatch ! Perfect for my Gold GLovers collection.

I don't know what it is about game-used bat cards, but they've always appealed to me more than jerseys (or pants or crotch). Here's a great-looking card of two of my all-time favorite Blue Jays players.

Speaking of bats....and what a great group of people ! Delgado !! Big Hurt !!! Thome !!!! and....Well ok, three out of four still makes it awesome.

Ok, forget what I said about jerseys, that's an impressive patch right here ! Ryan Goins is doing a great job filling in for injured Devon Travis. We already knew he was good on defense, but he's actually hitting (and getting on base) way more this year.

A great looking on-card auto on an almost wood-like surface. It's very nice to touch, you should try it !

Ok, here come the two even bigger bombs

Can't really say his signature is impressive, but I don't care much about that. It's still a Tulo auto from his Colorado playing days (Ha !). As you all know, he's been a great addition to the BLue Jays' lineup energy-wise, and his presence has been a real plus. And I'm sure his bat will be back on track during the off-season.

Ok.
Ready...
set....

Just like that, my very first Halladay auto.
My oh my do I love that card.
His autos have alays been out of my price range, so it's really awesome to get one in a trade. Plus, I'm pretty sure I bid on that card at the time, it really rings a bell !

Ok...let's see how high I can put that bar....thanks a lot Matt, my end of the box break will be revealed this week !

Need more Griffey Cow Bells : part II

Ok, here's the second part showing off the package sent to me by The Junior Junkie. This time, I'll focus on Topps and Upper Deck. For those who weren't around the first time up, I'm only showing those cards that were new to me.

Topps oddballs ! Great design on that Mc Donald's set.

The usual Topps subsets from the 90s

Now that's what I call a lot of foil !

One peeled and two unpeeled Finest. They won't stay unpeeled very long after I scan them.

I had no idea I was missing a 93 Griffey Stadium Club. Especially since I've always loved those member's choice subsets. That 91 medallion is very, very cheesy.

I have no idea what Topps Unique is, but I do know that co-signers card on the left looks awesome.

It's never too early to commemorate and to just add a foil stamp.

 And it's never too late to be using very old designs (which is a trend I agree with)

2014 and 2015 issues...seems like it's becoming difficult to find different photos to use on cards.


Aaaaah, Upper Deck...how do we miss ye. Of course, as a spokesperson and the most popular player of the 90s, this means that there were many, many UD Griffey cards made. So many inserts, so many subsets...a lot of those cards are extremely new to me, and I'll have to look them up.

I have a very soft spot for Promos, especially that 94 CC.

 You can't beat early 90s holograms. Don't even try.

 I wonder when they stopped doing that whole National card day ? You can see that he puts that grip at use, on the card on the right.

I never opened a pack of Fun Cards, and I really should try and track some down. Here's a tip, though : don't try to unfold anything that has 20 something year old glue on it..

More fun cards with Collector's Choice, including some silver signatures, and a photo (the one in the middle) already used on an SP checklist card.

This collecting subset is actually more of a checklist. But with valuable tips such as 'put your cards in 9 pocket pages, trade your doubles and start your own collections'. Thanks, Ken !

The usual Upper Deck inserts/subsets, this time, including a very much wanted 93 5th Anniversary.

here's one I'll have to do some research on...it doesn't look like it's licensed, and I'm pretty sure it's some kind of Nascar card (yeah, I would've made a great detective)

MVP and Victory are kind of boring to me.

Following Topps' footsteps

Some random UD brands

SP just may be my favorite UD brand outside from flagship, of course. The first SPx is actually a promo card, and that 93 SP is one of my favorite Griffey cards of all time.

And finally, let's wrap it up with some white bordered (mainly) Sp Authentic (mainly) cards !

I still have some oddballs to show off....more fun ahead !