Brewer Cards As Black As My Mood...

It has been a bad 6 months to be a Milwaukee sports fan.  First, the Brewers had their 6-week death march where they managed to miss the playoffs entirely after leading the division for 150 days.  And then today we had....whatever the hell that was that the Packers did.  Without hyperbole, both were HISTORIC collapses in their respective sports, and both squandered golden opportunities at having a truly special season.  

In light of all that, now seemed like a fitting time to post some nice Brewer cards I picked up for my team collection - a set of 9 black background cards from the 2011 set.

I hadn't seen any of these in person until now. They are pretty cool, the blackout effect really makes the player photo jump off of the card.  I especially like the Gomez, Hoffman's 600th save, and team card celebration shots.

This group also includes a guy who may not be a Brewer for long - it appears the Crew is trading Yovani to the Rangers.  Oddly, no one seems to have any idea what we are getting in return yet,  One reporter speculated that the team might be clearing room to make a run at James Shields, which would be SWEET, but I doubt it's true.

Welp, time to start counting the days until Pitchers & Catchers Report Day.  "Hope springs eternal" and all that.....

An eBay Dilemma....

The great thing about eBay is that it allows me to track down cards I want that I might not have been able to find otherwise.

The bad thing about eBay is that it allows me to track down rare and expensive cards I want that I might not have been able to find otherwise, and tempts me to buy them when I really shouldn't be spending a lot on cards.

I was bored yesterday and decided to kill some time surfing eBay for Griffey cards.  I had no intent to actually buy anything since I'm kinda short on cash.  So of course, one of the rare cards I've always wanted to buy if I got the chance pops up - at a price of $100 or "make and offer".  It's one of my favorite Griffey cards, one that I have a goal to collect all of the parallel versions of, and this is the one that is serial numbered to just 10 copies.  Outside of the 1-of-1 version (which may never be found) this is the rarest one there is, and I might not get another chance at it.

Decisions, decisions.......

Previous Trivia Question:

 

Carroll Hardy is the only player to ever do what?

 

Answer: He is the only player to ever pinch hit for Ted Williams.

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

What is the official score recorded in the record books for a forfeited baseball game?

1992 Score Select Chase Stars - 4 more down, 10 to go

The 1992 Score Select Chase Stars insert set is one of my absolute favorite inserts of all time.  These cards look SO COOL in person - different parts of the card just jump out at you as you move it around in light, and at times the player almost looks like he is backlit by an electric light!  If you are a fan of any of the players in this set (see checklist below) I highly recommend tracking down their card - it will make a great addition to your player collection!

I decided last year that I was gonna try to collect all 24 cards from the set, and I've slowly been working my way through eBay to get them all.  Yesterday I found a seller offering several of them for a buck apiece, and with combined shipping I was able to check 4 more cards off my list for just $7 total:






That makes 14 out of 24 that I have so far. (Well technically I have 15, since I do have a copy of the Griffey, but in this case I want to get a second one so I have one in the player collection and one in the set collection)

1992 Score Select Chase Stars Checklist

1-Fred McGriff
2-Ryne Sandberg
3-Ozzie Smith
4-Gary Sheffield
5-Darren Daulton
6-Andy Van Slyke
7-Barry Bonds
8-Tony Gwynn
9-Greg Maddux
10-Tom Glavine
11-John Franco
12-Lee Smith
13-Cecil Fielder
14-Roberto Alomar
15-Cal Ripken Jr.
16-Edgar Martinez
17-Ivan Rodriguez
18-Kirby Puckett
19-Ken Griffey Jr.
20-Joe Carter
21-Roger Clemens
22-Dave Fleming
23-Paul Molitor
24-Dennis Eckersley

A Possible Steal from eBay

The latest addition to the Griffey Collection was the result of a random impulse bid on eBay:



1998 Pinnacle Platinum Gold Promo #53


I bid on this card on a whim when I was looking to see if any of the Pinnacle Bankruptcy Griffeys were out there, having just become aware of their existence when I stumbled onto this website: http://thejuniorcollection.com/RareFinds.php (I was looking for the Pinnacle Select Griffeys.  If anyone ever sees these out there in the marketplace, let me know please!!)

I was paying so little attention when I bid on the card that I didn't even notice that it was a promo card and not the regular version (yes, I somehow missed the giant "SAMPLE" in the picture.  I blame the small screen on my cell phone).  I decided to look and see if there were any other versions of this promo on eBay and what they are selling for, and much to my surprise I found three others selling for buy it now prices of $48, $60, and $120!  Now this doesn't necessarily reflect the true price, since we all know people will sometimes list cards for super high prices hoping some sucker will buy it, but still it made me feel awful good that I got mine for a grand total of $7.69~!