Patching Up My Collection

I've really grown to like some of the patch cards floating around the trading card world these days.  I know some people can't stand manufactured "relics", and at times I agree (for example, with the Topps "Glove Leather Nameplates" last year), but I find the patches are often cool even if they aren't truly relics.  Case in point, this neat Warren Spahn I grabbed off of eBay:



A nice manu-patch commemorating my home state's one World Series Championship, featuring my all-time favorite pitcher.  A no-brainer addition to the collection!

Today's Trivia Question:

Who owns the bizarre claim to fame of being the only player ever traded for himself?

Announcing the First Annual MLB Prediction Contest!

So I wanted to do something to make the new baseball season a bit more interesting for all of us here in the card blogging community.  After a little thought I came to the conclusion that the best way would be predicting the top performers in MLB this year - we can follow along all season, and at the end we will find out (to steal a line from Bryan Alvarez at F4Wonline.com) "who was a prognosticator, and who was a FOOL~!"

So here's the deal.  All you have to do is pick the playoff teams in both leagues and also who will lead the league in various statistical categories (details below).  I will compile all the entries into a page on my blog so everyone can view it throughout the year.  There will be TWO prizes - one for the points leader at the All-Star Break, and a grand prize for the leader at the end of the season.  I don't know exactly what the prize will be yet, but rest assured there will be multiple auto, patch, and/or other "hit" cards involved.  I plan on putting up my own predictions to play along, but my score won't count as far as winning the prizes is concerned.

Here are the rules:
1.) Pick the 6 Division Champions and 4 Wild Card winners (remember there are 2 Wild Cards in each league now).  Each correct guess earns 10 points.  If you pick a team to win their Division and they win the Wild Card instead (or vice versa) you receive 5 points.  For purposes of determining the All-Star Break prize winner, we will use which teams would make the playoffs if the season ended that day.

2.) Pick who will lead ALL of MLB (not just the AL or NL) in each of the following categories.  A correct pick earns 10 points.  If the player finishes 2nd-5th in the league you get 5 points.  Finishing 6th-10th earns 2 points.
Hitting Categories:
-Batting Average
-Home Runs
-RBIs
-Runs scored
-Stolen Bases
Pitching Categories:
-Wins
-ERA
-Strikeouts
-Saves
-Holds

For the Batting Average and ERA categories the player has to qualify for the league title to count.

3.) At the All-Star Break, you are allowed to change any ONE pick to a different choice.

That's it!  To enter, either post your choices in the comments section of this post, or else you can email your picks to me.  All entries must be received by 11:59pm on April 3rd.  If you like the contest, please spread the word by posting a link on your blog - the more entries we get, the merrier!

Good Luck and Go Brewers!

Three New Griffeys

I took advantage of the lull in new card sets to add a fe neat Griffeys to the collection off of eBay.  First up, a pair of 1999 Topps Tek cards:

These are definitely unique looking cards, as they are basically plastic.  It's kind of hard to see against a white background, but the background design of both these cards is different.  That's because every 1999 Tek card had 60 (!!) variations - 2 different player photos, each with 30 different backgrounds.  I already had one other version in my collection, so I've got a ton of work to do if I want them all.  Additionally, each pattern variation has a gold variation that is numbered to just 10 copies.  Yikes.....

But that's not all!  I also picked up a very cool card from 1994 Stadium Club:

I remmeber wanting this card so bad back when the set came out.  The background has an etched foil look to it, very colorful and eye-catching.  Sadly, this card was printed back in the days when it was impossible to imagine Griffey going his whole career without a championship ring....

Brother, can you spare $25,000?

It's been super busy here, so the ol' blog has been a little light the past few weeks.  I hope to change that in the near future, but until then enjoy this eBay listing I saw today. Daaaamn...........

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-Upper-Deck-Goodwin-Champions-Animal-Kingdom-Patch-Complete-100-Card-Set-WOW-/270927633564?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item3f148b9c9c

Finally! - A Finished Masterpiece

In my last post I teased that I had reached a major colecting milestone.  Well, a couple months back I finally tracked down the last 2 short prints (Cal Ripken and Mike Schmidt) I needed to complete the full 120 card set of 2008 UD Masterpieces Baseball:

I was proud to have finally finished it off, both because I really love the set and because this was the set that got me back into collecting.  I bought a few packs on a whim one day, I liked them so much that I decided to buy a whole box, and then before I knew it I was online blogging and talking to all of you!

However, that isn't the milestone.  The big news is my acquisition of this card:

Why is Mr. Longoria such a big deal?  Here's why:

Evan was the final piece.  For the first time in my collecting life, I have actually completed an entire parallel set!  Of all the different colors of frames UD used as parallels for this set I think the black ones look the best - the dark color really makes the gold foil jump off the cards. 

Hopefully one day I can fulfill my dream of having a "rainbow" set of all the Griffey parallels from this set (he has TWO base cards, mind you).  There are no less than TEN parallel sets with different color frames - Black (unnumbered), Red (unnumbered), Navy Blue (#ed to 125), Brown (100), Green (75), Blue (50), Silver (25), Gold (10), Light Blue (5) and Red (1).  Thus far I have the Black, Navy Blue, Brown and Green parallels for Griffey's short print card (#99 in the set), and I have the Black, Red and Brown parallels for the other Griffey (#52 in the set).  I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing the Gold parallel of #99 off of eBay when I had the chance.  The guy listed it for $100 or best offer, and even though I was pretty broke at the time I offered $60.  He countered with $80 and I ultimately had to pass.  Stupid "responsibilities"....