Secret Santa: 2018 Haul

Several of the Trading Card Blogging Brethern participated in a Secret Santa Gift Exchange this holiday season. A big thank you to Jon of A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts for managing the misfit gang o' traders this year. To see my pirate booty from last year you can follow this link. Any how for this year I had shipped out my Secret Santa package of Bo Soax to Shane of Off The Wall early in the month on Saturday 08 December. Then the next Monday 10 December I received my S. Santa package.

Secret Santa package showing inside note and team bags.

I opened the package carefully, trying not to see the cardboard goodies inside, in search of a note or card that ID'd my S. Santa.

Secret Santa Note

I caught a glimpse of some of the front and back cards of the two team bags that were waiting inside. I waited until Christmas Eve before I opened the team bags to see Exactly what was inside. What was inside? A Rock! NO NO NO WRONG HOLIDAY CHARLIE BROWN! Right there were two team bags one Filled with Some B'More O's and the other filled with a Mix of Washington Teams with a Sweet Walter Johnson card showing on the top.

My Secret Santa was Adam of Cardboard Clubhouse and he sent a nice batch of Washington and B'More cards. In total there were 44 cards and one card sized book. The team breakdown is 22 Orioles (1 was a logo), 23 Washington cards of Baseball, Football and Hockey: 4 Senators, 2 Redskins, 2 Capitals and 15 Nationals (1 in team USA uniform, 1 Notre Dame Uniform?).

Lets see the cards shall we? Starting with the Orioles stuff.

Top Row: 1982 Topps 232 Terry Crowley
1986 Topps 365 Mike Flanagan
1987 Topps 120 Eddie Murray
Middle Row: 1989 Topps 757 Brady Anderson
2016 Topps Heritage (1967 Topps Design) 669 Mychal Givens
2016 Topps Heritage (1967 Topps Design) 125 Zach Britton
Bottom Row: 2017 Topps Heritage (1968 Topps Design) 159 J.J. Hardy
2015 Panini Donruss: The Rookies: 13 Christian Walker
2012 Topps Archives: (1954 Topps Design) 32 Adam Jones

Top Row: 1989 Sportflics 134 Craig Worthington
2012 Topps 125 Adam Jones
Bottom Row: 1990 Fleer: Sticker: Baltimore Orioles Team Logo
2015 Topps Update: All Star Game: US159 Darren O'Day

2018 Topps Big League: 44 Trey Mancini - This is my first Big League card a big thanks to Adam for it.
2018 Topps 587 Chris Davis
2016 Topps Update US182 Hyun-Soo Kim

Front and back of Collect-A-Book

1991 Impell JBC Collect-A-Books 9 Ben Mcdonald

A Winning Hand of Cal Ripken Jr.s

1994 Topps Team Stadium Club Finest: 8 of 12
1991 Topps: 150
2016 Panini Donruss: 181
2015 Topps: Highlight of the Year: H-27 Final Season Appearance 2001
1989 Topps: Big: 286

Now we get into the Washington Stuff:

REDSKINS

1988 Topps 8 Doug Williams
2018 Panini Classics: 190 Clinton Portis

CAPITALS

1991 Pro Set: 511 Peter Bondra
1993 Stadium Club 234 Keith Jones

SENATORS
A few reprints and retro cards.

2010 Topps Update (Thank God for TCDB never would have known it was from the update set): Vintage Legends Collection: VLC-50 Walter Johnson - Front 1951 Topps Design.
2011 Topps 1916 Sporting News CMGR Reprint CMGR-19 Walter Johnson
1911 Turkey Red T3 Reprints (reprint date unknown argh 1982 Renata Galasso?):
99? Walter Johnson with Turkey Red Add on back
No 15 Norman Arthur "Kid" Elberfield

NATIONALS

Top Row: 2015 Topps: 207 Bryce Harper
2018 Donruss: 192 Bryce Harper "Mondo" variant
2018 Topps Heritage: 1969 Design: 230 Ryan Zimmerman
Middle Row: 2016 Topps Heritage: 1967 Design: 73 Jonathan Papelbon
2016 Topps Heritage: 1967 Design: 518 Jayson Werth
2016 Topps Bowman: BP140 Chris Bostick
Bottom Row: 2015 Donruss: 178 Jordan Zimmermann
2016 Topps: Washington Nationals Team Set: WN-15 Matt Den Dekker
2009 Upper Deck Baseball Series 2: 947 Shairon Martis RC

Top Row: 2017 Topps: 327 Danny Espinosa
2018 Topps: 355 Joe Ross
Middle Row: 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter: 106 Yunel Escobar
2015 Topps Allen & Ginter: 266 Drew Storen
Bottm Row: 2011 Contenders: Draft Ticket: DT88 Brian Dupra in Notre dame Uniform?
2015 Panini Donruss: USA Collegiate National Team: 13 Nicholas Banks USA team Uniform

Blogged But Not Blogged: Redemption Freed From Fed-Ex Prison

This is the type of post that I have probably done many times before, I call this type of post "Blogged, But Not Blogged". Long story short since Aug 2007 I have been blogging about my card mail days over at TCC on my blog over there, and since July 2012 duplicating those posts in a mail day thread at the TCZ forums. There are many cards I have mentioned in detail at those sites that I have never blogged about here on what I consider to be my official trading card blog. A few times, mostly in the early days, I mentioned a card in my mail day and even scanned it (at least the front) but never blogged about it over here.

This is the story of one such card:

16 Feb 2009:
From TCC Mail Day Forum Post "Finally From Fed-Ex Foulball: A Redemption":

This is quite a story. From the Official TCC Baseball Box Breaking Group I had gotten a redemption card from 2007 SWEET SPOT BASEBALL I don't recall when I logged in the request for it online, but here is it's story.

Back of redemption card

The thing was being delivered via FedEx with SIGNATURE REQUIRED Delivery. Well long story short FedEx attempts to deliver it 3 times when I'm not available.

So about a week or two ago I contact FedEx and take a day off of work (since I had to accept a UPS package with the same sort of deal) and wait. FedEx didn't try delivering that day. The package didn't get on the truck or something. I arrange for a special delivery to my Apartment's Management office on a Friday (which would screw things up some more) only to find that my Management office doesn't sign for any packages, when they had told me on the phone they did.*

I arranged another delivery and take off Monday to wait. Their operator calls in the morning to verify that they will be sending it out and it was on a truck. I wait and wait and wait. When I finally go out to check my regular mail I notice a door tag that says they had attempted to deliver it at 10:00 AM (the other times they had attempted to deliver it was afternoon times 1:30 PM,3:00 PM etc) well I was really really PO'd. I had taken off of work and they try to deliver in the morning around the time I was in the bathroom showering (I should have not showered until after getting the dang thing).

Well I contact them and get directions to their station where they are holding the package. I get there about 15 minutes before they close and they can't find the thing. The system says it's still on the truck. They said they will call me when they find it. Um yeah sure. As it turns out that particular time it was a Manager who had tried to deliver it so it didn't go into the system as it normally would (I found that out today)

Finally today (16 Feb 2009)  I get a call saying the package is waiting and I can pick it up anytime. Fortunately I had the day off for Presidents Day and FedEx was open, that surprised me. OK so I went back out to their station and sprung the package from it's FedEx prison.

I don't have a scan of the card (Not sure when I'll get my scanner hooked back up**) but it is a:

2007 UD Sweet Spots Baseball Dual Signatures of Alex Gordon Royals and Cal Ripken Jr. Orioles Glove Leather black sharpie 4/5.

This puppy ain't going anywhere (Cal Ripken Jr PC) so don't ask to trade for it. Not sure what it's BV is or if it is even listed as having one.

UPDATE: 26 NOV 2009 Added the scan. Hadn't gotten round to posting the scan here (meaning TCC as this is a cut/paste copy of my original post there), but it has been in my Photobucket# for a few months.

From TCC Blog post "Redemption Freed From Fed-Ex Prison":

After a long game of cat and mouse with FedEx delivering the package with "REQUIRED SIGNATURE" I finally got my redemption. In the mail day page  I gave most of the horrid details of trying to get the thing. (as reposted up above) Anyway it is:

2007 UD SWEET SPOT BASEBALL Sweet Spot Dual Signatures

ALEX GORDON (Royals) and CAL RIPKEN JR (Orioles)

Glove Leather Black Sharpie #4/5

Not bloody likely for trade at anytime. If I ever get around to finding a price for it, I might consider selling if I like the price, or if someone offers a really ridiculous amount for it.

Notes:
* When I first moved into my Apartment 01 Aug 2008 the management office would accept and sign for packages for tenants and then notify them of the package. I think by a notice shoved onto your door. They quickly stopped sometime within my first few months of living at the apartment complex. Looks like I was in my apartment for just 6 months when this package arrived. Update since around the holidays of last year (2017) the leasing office accepts some FedEx packages on behalf of residents now.

** Wow I had forgotten I had gone a while (several months it seems) without my scanner hooked up. I probably hooked it up shortly after this mess. I still don't have a printer hooked up, or my regular stereo set up. I have been in my apartment for nearly 10 years (come Aug 01). Yeah 10 years without a printer and a stereo. I print stuff at work when I need to and scan papers there. The lack of stereo only means I can't play vinyl records. I have portable and other tape and CD players to use. I don't listen to music as intently or as often as I used to several years ago. Those are stories for another time if at all.

# Photobucket has banned free 3rd party hosting. So any attempt at linking images at PB look like this:

This image is intentional this time only. If it appears anyplace else on my blog it is not intended.

Four Cards For Less Than Four Bucks Fishing On Bay

This post is going to be one of those that I will duplicate on my Curly W Cards blog because it is has some Nationals. The post over there will be slightly different so it will not be a true cut and paste or just plain link up deal.

OK so from Ebay I had bought some cards from one seller each card at 99¢ with Free Shipping. Four cards total two of which are Nationals players in a Nats Uniform.

Lets just get on with the cards I will make some comments about them after showing them.

2000 Fleer Skybox 1 Cal Ripken Jr. Orioles

(Front and Back)

Hows that for planing the first card being shown is card number 1. OK so I didn't plan it that way, I planned it going in chronological order and of these four cards I'm showing This Ripken from 2000 lands first.

2005 Donruss Zenith 162 Nick Johnson Nationals

(Front and Back)

When I saw this card I just had to have it. I don't recall coming across the Zenith brand from Donruss before, maybe I did but this Nick Johnson card is the only Zenith card I have. I plan on getting at least all the Nationals and Orioles from the set, and eventually the entire set of 250 cards. I like the simple yet complex design. It seems that the Zenith brand was only produced in 2005.

These next two cards and the final half of the four are from the same set 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter's. Yes most people just say Allen and Ginter or simply abbreviate to A&G but as long as Topps includes the apostrophe es I will label it that way (or just A&G or A and G)
 

 

2008 Topps Allen & Ginter's 212 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 19th Century Composer

(Front and Back)

This is one of those cards from A&G that either makes you love the sets or hate them. The Non-Sport and more to the point Non-Baseball card. The A&G brand is primarily a baseball set but technically is an All-Sport all inclusive set since it has the Non-Sport as well. I personally like the Non-Baseball cards as well as the Baseball.

2008 Topps Allen & Ginter's 271 Paul Lo Duca Nationals

(Front and Back)

Paul Lo Duca is one of those players that only spent one season, actually only part of a season, with my beloved Nationals but he quickly became a favorite. 

I was going to post my CWC post simultaneously with this one but I will now wait till this one is published so I can link to it.

Trading Zone Secret Santa

One of the trading card forums I frequent TCZ (Trading Card Zone) had a Secret Santa round of trading for the Winter Holidays. The Santa doesn't have to identify themselves, and usually don't but depending on the group it can be figured out, or they eventually identify themselves if pressured, or the recipient is flipping out over not knowing. I know who my Santa was. For this year I only got two cards but they are beauts. It doesn't really matter how many cards you get, or even the monetary value of the cards, the important thing is that based on your wants and likes that you provided the coordinator, your Santa did their best to try and find something you might enjoy.

Here is what I got:

on the Left: 2003 Upper Deck SPX Combos C-RR Cal Ripken Jr. Orioles and Scott Rolen Cardinals #d 86/90
and on the Right:  2012 Panini Leaf Limited Limited Greats Autograph 29 Frank Howard Senators Auto on-sticker Blue sharpie #d 195/299 (I had gotten and blogged about #007 for myself from Ebay on my Cury W Cards blog)

Here are the backs:

As for what I had sent. My "good little Collector" he is an Andrew Luck Super Collector so I sent him a bunch of mostly Luck cards with 2 or 3 other guys. He really enjoyed what I sent, he had some of them but not all of them. Just as I had one of these cards, but not the other.

Dualing Hall Of Famers

This is one of these just because posts. I really need to start doing this sort of post more often especially on my other blog Curly W Cards since that one I have made fewer posts on than on here.

In 2008 Upper Deck made a very cool set of cards Baseball Heroes. It is a nice set and I like it but there are a zillion and one parallel cards. What else is new in card collecting pains?

Anyway here is a card from that set of one of my fave all-time players Cal Ripken Jr. Orioles with his Hall of Fame Classmate Tony Gwynn Padres. Both players are now oddities in the sports world for playing solely on one team their entire careers. I think I have a few duplicates of this card. I forget if I have any of the different color parallels to it.

 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes 180 Call Ripken Jr. Orioles and Tony Gwynn Padres

(Front And Back)

Coveted Ten Cards

OK I'm giving into peer pressure here. Other bloggers have a list of their most desired cards, their "White Whales", their "Elusive Eight" or what-not. Each blogger uses a different term for them to try to make their list unique. I think one blogger may have made a challenge ages ago and set  a trend for card bloggers to help out with these lists by sending another blogger one of their listed cards gratis. These are lists of the cards they are currently looking 'near and far', 'high and low' for. For some they have been looking for these cards to complete a set, or fulfill some collecting desire for many many years. For some it maybe only the last couple of hours because they discovered a new set to seek.

I am joining this Qard Quest. I've decided to make it a Top Ten, I could have made it a small five or perhaps a dozen or a large 20, but 10 I think is just about right for this thing. I'm calling it "CaptKirk42's Coveted 10". OK maybe I'll think of a better name later on, but I wanted use some kind of alliteration with the title.

I will try not to make this a list of all super expensive very hard to get vintage cards because then I would never be able to update and change the list. I'm not even sure what my real top ten most hunted are at this particular moment. The list will start off in no particular order, but as I get cards from the list I will remove the one I got and add a new card to the bottom of the list. That way eventually they will sort of be in a most desired order of preference. For now they will mostly be baseball as that is the sport I most collect and my checklists are more updated on.

One card I could add to this list is the infamous 2012 Topps Series 2 - 661 Bryce Harper Nationals Super Stupidly Stymieing Short-Print Card. (or even the 2012 Topps Archives 241 Bryce Harper Nationals ALSO Stupid Short Print) I want to add it and maybe one day will, but at this time I don't think many collectors would part with it for free or for a very reasonable price. Even before it was printed it was being pervertedly overpriced in the $hundred$ and those who are fortunate enough to pull one from a pack if they don't want it for their collection just see Dollar signs and toss them up on Ebay for Thousands or at least a minimum of hundreds. Sometimes it really sucks being a Nationals fan when they have had the number one draft pick for a ton of years in a row and the guy is a Super Phenom.

Another card I could put on the list  but is probably too valuable for some is the 1982 Topps Baseball Traded 82T  Cal Ripken Jr. RC Orioles.

I'm curious if the 2008 Topps David Wright with Mr. Met is a real card or one of those blogiverse custom jobs. i thikn it was a real one for the Topps Education program thing they did for retail stores. If it is a legit card then I also want that one.

Here is the Inaugural list:

1. 1968 Topps Baseball Game Insert 5 Harmon Killebrew Twins (To upgrade my current copy that has a black X marked on the back that bleeds a little through to the front)
2. 1970 Fleer Laughlin World Series 4 Tigers vs. Cubs 1907 WS
3. 1962 Topps Baseball 88 Ralph Houk MG Yankees (Yogi Berra in Background)
4. 1975 Topps Baseball 220 Don Sutton Dodgers (thought I had it but just have the mini)
5. 1973 Topps Baseball Baltimore Orioles Team Blue Checklist card (unmarked)
6. 2011 UD Goodwin Champions 89 Alexander Ovechkin (Hockey)  Capitals
7. 2008-09 UD Legends Masterpieces Hockey 86 Mario Lemieux Penguins
8. 2011 Topps Lineage Stand-Up TS2 Ryan Zimmerman Nationals
9. 2008 Allen & Ginter Auto AGA-AF Andrea Farina (Rock/Scissors/Paper Champ)  I have a relic version I can trade for
10. 1975 Topps Baseball Mini 140 Steve Garvey AS Dodgers

Mailday Wednesday 11 April 2012

Playing catch-up with my maildays. No scans right now. Later when I mention this Team Set.
Got two Ebay packages. Still waiting on a sportlots package that was paid for back on 22 March (all but this one package has arrived, I think the guy might be from Canada and he may have taken time to fill/ship the order, hence the delay) Anyway chronologically I got:

1975 Topps 208 MVPs 1970 Boog Powell Orioles and Johnny Bench Reds

1989 O-Pee-Chee Baltimore Orioles
14 Tom Niedenfuer
22 Billy Ripken
98 Larry Sheets
148 Eddie Murray
161 Brady Anderson
192 Ken Gerhart
124 Jim Traber
213 Rene Gonzales
231 Dave Schmidt
250 Cal Ripken
309 Terry Kennedy
417 Pete Stanicek
352 Rick Schu

Next update in 1 hour.

White Whale of Iron Man

From Ebay I got a great deal on a White Whale card I have been looking to get.

1982 Topps Baseball #21 - Baltimore Orioles Future Stars Bob Bonner - Cal Ripken - Jeff Schneider for $12.24 delivered ($10.25 + $1.99 standard shipping) 

 

This card is often considered to be Cal's Official RC, as well as the usually more expensive 1982 Topps Traded #98T (which I don't have yet) both cards usually go for at least $20 on Ebay.

Graded 1982 Topps Traded #98T Courtesy of Checkoutmycards.com

With this card the Good/Great News is the condition is just a tad less than Excellent condition (a little flaking can be seen in the lower left corner on the front).

The Bad News is it was delivered in PWE with a forever stamp (shipping only cost them $0.44 and they charged me $1.99). OK they said "Standard Shipping" but you can send a bubble envelope and it costs about $2.00 more or less. For most sellers a bubble mailer is "Standard" especially for cards of $10 value or more (sometimes $5.00). Plus there was no Penny Sleeve or toploader UGH it was in an UltraPro "Cardsaver" (Like the pic below).

I transferred it to a penny sleeve and toploader. I dinged the seller a little on the shipping star and in the Feedback section I said "expected a little better than a PWE for the shipping", but I gave them positive feedback. If the card had been damaged from the poor shipping then I would have contacted them to try to work something out and maybe give a neutral if I was satisfied with the outcome, negative if they were uncooperative. I wonder what feedback they will give me if any?

On a side note I live in an apartment and my tiny mailbox is the one that has the lock for the postal carrier to load the boxes in my building so sometimes my mail gets extra folded because of the little extra metal bars at the top of my box. I had some packages the other day that had been bent a little good thing the contents had been protected well by their senders in those otherwise I'd have been quite annoyed at the postal service.