Epix Success~!

I've written about the 1998 Pinnacle Epix cards a couple times before.  They rank very highly in my favorite sets of all time list.  For YEARS I've been trying to finish off my Griffey set.  Which is why when I recently did one of my regular "Griffey Epix" searches on eBay I almost fell out of my chair when I finally saw a Griffey Emerald Game card pop up. The Emerald Game is the last** card I needed to finish the set, and it was only $11 to boot - BUY BUY BUY BUY~!

A few days later I got one of those familiar brown envelopes in the mail.  I excitedly tore into it and saw.....

A card that was clearly NOT an Emerald.

I contacted the seller immediately and told him he sent the wrong card.  Evidently he LISTED the wrong card, as he didn't have an Emerald Game to send me.  He refunded my money right away and let me keep the card too, but still, I was crushed.  Who knew when another Emerald Game listing would show up?

As it turns out, the answer to that question was "the very next day."

Unbelievably, another listing popped up on eBay for a Griffey Emerald Game Epix.  This one wasn't buy it now, and I got in a bit of a bidding war so I had to pay $24 this time around, but this time when I opened the mail I saw this:

And it's MINT too!

FINALLY, I have the full set of nine~!**

Check one off my collection bucket list!


**The asterisks are because technically there is more to this set.  As I talked about in one of my old posts, there was supposed to be a fourth subset, Epix Season, that was to be included in 1998 Pinnacle Certified.  The company went bankrupt so the set was never released.  However, some of the Epix Season cards made it out onto the market somehow.  I've actually got the Griffey Epix Season Orange too!

I saw a Griffey Epix Season Emerald on eBay once years ago (for $100), so I know that at least one copy of that card exists.  I've never seen a Griffey Epix Season Purple though.

Catching Up On Some Old, Old Trades

Today I've got a couple of looooooooooooooong overdue thank yous for a couple of my fellow bloggers.

First up, a package from Jeff at Cardboard Catastrophes.  For reasons that even he didn't understand, he picked up this oddball Griffey at a card show:

I loves me a good oddball card, so when he offered it to me I was happy to give it a good home.

He also sent along a few 2011 Topps Heritage to check off my list:

Thanks Jeff!  I'm sure I'll find something good to send you back.

The second round of thanks goes to Kyle at Juuust A Bit Outside.  A while back I sent him a stack of 2011 Topps Stickers for his son's collection, and he ended up sending me back a nice stack of Brewers for my team collection:

Thanks Kyle!

A Big Ring of The Big Hurt

Of the several hits I pulled when I bought some Series 2 packs a couple weeks ago, this one was easily the best of the bunch:



I gotta say, as far as manufactured relics go, these metal ring cards are pretty damn cool.  I never actually saw one of these from Series 1, so I had no idea how thick and heavy they are!  Looks like I'll have to make a special trip to the card shop for a holder for this baby.

2012 MLB Prediction Contest~! - First Half Winner Is....

Back before opening day I launched a contest for the new baseball season - people just had to predict the playoff teams and statistical leaders in a handful of categories.  The plan was to have a prize both for the end of season winner and also at the All-Star Break.  With 10 entries (counting myself and my fiance JoJoBoom, who are of course ineligible for prizes), the standings as of the Mid-Summer Classic are.........



1. Play at the Plate - 79 points (11 out of 20 predictions produced points)
2. Chunter - 72 points (11)
3. Milwaukee Southpaw - 67 points (9)
4. Steve D. - 62 points (10)
5. Kyle4KC - 59 points (10)
    The Angels In Order - 59 Points (9)
7. AdamE - 57 points (9)
8. Greg Zakwin - 54 points (11)
9. JoJoBoom - 47 points (7)
10. The Lost Collector - 45 points (6)

Congrats to Play at the Plate!  I probably still have your address from that trade we did saved somewhere, but you may as well just send it to me again - it'll go much faster.  :)

Greg Zakwin appears to be the person most likely to jump up in the standings in the second half - he was tied for most scoring predictions with 11, but unfortunately they were only good for 54 points!  If those stat leaders of his pick it up a little he could leapfrog the standings quickly.

Also don't forget - you are allowed to change any ONE pick for the second half.  Choose wisely and leave your choice in the comments section below by 11:59pm on Sunday, July 15th. (If you forgot your picks, just click the link to the contest page on the right side of my blog.

Finally Something Good From the Golden Giveaway

Like most people around the blogosphere, I've been pretty underwhelmed by Topps' Golden Giveaway.  On top of the fact that the whole "virtual coin" thing is lame, my luck with codes has been ABYSMAL - I finally got my first card on my TWENTY-SEVENTH code, and I've only gotten 1 card out of a total of 30 codes.

The good news?  The card I got was a pretty good one, of a beloved player collected by many.



Why is that good news?  Because it allowed me to execute a trade within 5 minutes of unlocking the card.

Those of you familiar with the blog can probably guess where this is going.....






Meet the newest addition to my collection~!

I've Waited 20 Years For This Card

So.......long time, no see........

As I'm sure most of you are NOT aware, I'm getting married in about 7 weeks.  This is of course a good thing, but it has two unfortunate side effects - my card purchases have been scaled back pretty significantly this year due to other expenses, and I've been a bit too preoccupied with other things to find much time to blog!  Hopefully I can start to remedy the latter problem, if not the former....

I did recently manage to buy some packs of Topps Series 2, and I even scored a few hits (more on those in coming posts).  But there was only one card that truly got me excited, and I pulled it out of my very last pack:




Ever since I started my Griffey collection waaaay back in 1992, I have ALWAYS wished for one done in the style of my all-time favorite set design.  It may be a mini, it may have taken two decades, but it's finally mine!

It also warms my heart to know that I can once again open packs and hope to see a card of my favorite player.  That was a real drag last year!