January 2012
15 posts
1 tag
Coming up next - 2011 Allen & Ginter
Yes, I know it’s not the newest kid on the block, since it’s out since last july, but yesterday was my birthday and I found a good price for a box on dacardworld.com, so I jumped in for the thrill of busting 24 packs of one of the most succesful products of Topps, with all its highs and flaws.
The Highs
Allen & Ginter has one of the neatest design around, a classy, clean throwback...
4 tags
Players I collect - Hanley Ramirez
I am a fan of Hanley Ramirez since he entered the Majors, he showed glimpses of greatness in his career and, even if you wouldn’t consider him a “five tools guy” because of his not so great fielding, he surely has speed, can hit and hit for power.
Rookie of the year, 3 times all star, 2 silver sluggers and a second place in the MVP votations: you can tell that if he can rebound...
2 tags
Coming up next - 2012 Topps Series 1
I made a resolution, for this new year: less random cards bought on the spot and more box breaks and completed sets.
With this resolution in mind, I have already secured a box of Gypsy queen and ordered a box of Topps Series 1, due out in a week.
What should I expect from this box? Well, according to Topps, a lot of gold, since this is the theme of the first release of 2012, like diamonds were...
2 tags
The trouble with game used relics
I am a great fan of cards with game used pieces of memorabilia and try to pick one when I can, but I acknowledge there are some issues with them, the most important one being, you can’t tell where these swatches come from.
Cards with embedded pieces of uniforms, bats, gloves first hit the hobby in the years 1996-1997: they were a new, cool way of collecting, giving us fans the feeling of...
2 tags
Coming up next - 2012 Topps Heritage
It’s that time of season again..NFL playoffs are firing their last shots, the NBA is about to begin its “real season”, and somewhere in Florida and Arizona, sprinklers are coming out of hybernation, ready for a new season of baseball.
And as always, Topps celebrates the new season with one of its most beloved collection, Heritage, which every year brings the fans back in the...
4 tags
Players I collect - Eddie Murray
Eddie Murray was one of the greatest players in baseball history, a great teammate for the guys of the organizations he played in, and a great guy off the field.
One of only 4 players ever to hit more than 3,000 hits and 500 homeruns (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Rafael Palmeiro the others), won a world series with Baltimore and was a great part of the Indians’ team that almost brought back...
3 tags
Cards I'll never have - Gypsy Queen relics art
There are some cards I’ll never get in my life, not with my budget, unless I hit the jackpot, beat the odds and find them in a box I can afford.
But “you can’t always get what you want”, they say, and sometimes it’s fun just to watch and cherish the beauty of a great designed card.
Among them, rarest among the rare, are some fantastic 1/1 “relics art”...
2 tags
Hall of fame ballot, winners and losers
Barry Larkin made it to the Hall on monday, getting 86.4% of the BBWAA votes, a considerable bump from last year’s 62.1%.
Among the others, who had a good year and can consider a trip to Cooperstown in the next future and who, on the other side, shall abandon his childhood dream to become an immortal?
The winners
Jack Morris, in his 13th attempt, reached 66.6%, a 13.1% bump from last year....
3 tags
A side project - Ken Griffey jr.
Today I got a bunch of cards in my mail, and among them, 3 cards for my side project, regarding Ken Griffey jr.
It’s a “side project” because I think it will take some time to be completed, so I don’t pursue it with great effort, but I let it flow, taking a casual approach.
Basically, it is about getting one card for every season played by Ken Griffey jr. (1989-2010, 22...
4 tags
Welcome to the Hall, mr. Larkin!
So, Barry Larkin has become the 298th individual elected to the baseball Hall of fame, the 208th player, following the late Ron Santo, voted in recently by the veterans’ committee. It’s a great accomplishment, very well deserved for one of the best ever in his position, with lifetime numbers even better than Ozzie Smith’s, for instance.
To celebrate Larkin’s election, I...
3 tags
Players I collect - Brooks Robinson
Besides collecting some inserts of vintage-like series such as Heritage and Gypsy Queen, I also collect cards of several players, active and from the past.
One of the old timers is Brooks Robinson, the phenomenal, perennial all star and gold glove winner third base for the Baltimore Orioles. His short print cards are quite expensive, but from time to time I try and sneak one of them in my ebay...
2 tags
Barry Larkin, now or never?
Next monday, the results of the 69th BBWAA Hall of Fame election will be revealed, and we’ll know whether someone will join the late Ron Santo, already elected by the Veterans committee, in Cooperstown.
With a freshmen’ s class particularly weak, with maybe the only Bernie Williams capable to rack some votes, expectations are high for last year’s top vote getters, especially...
3 tags
My favourite card
I am kind of a newbie to the hobby, so I don’t have many impressive cards, 1 of 1, vintage rookie cards to show, but I have some really neat, great looking cards, some of which can gain considerable value in the future.
With that in mind, and considering I am a fan of the Cleveland Indians (the movie Major league put me in this bad road..), this is my favourite card, so far:
It’s a...
2 tags
Speaking of the Wizard..
I don’t have any remarkable card of Ozzie, just several base cards, but I do have and cherish an autographed ball. I got it on Ebay for a reasonable price, and I had it authenticated by an online service, just in case.
Ozzie inscribed it with the remarkable number of gold gloves he won, 13. He totally reinvented the position of shortstop, making it the most exciting spot to be on the...
2 tags
I am in the hall of fame! (well, sort of..)
Yesterday I have finally received a letter from Cooperstown, NY, with my personalized membership card to the baseball hall of fame.
I am glad to support this organization, preserving the heritage of the ball game, and will surely visit it the first time I go to the States.
So, here it is, my Ozzie Smith themed membership card..
