2011 Bowman Platinum review

Bowman Platinum is my favorite somewhat affordable product of this baseball season thus far. I think they could include more that 4 cards per pack for the price but I am not complaining because it is a great product. my first experience with this product was 1 20$ blaster box (8 packs: 4 cards per pack) and 2 rack packs of 3 packs each (6 packs total) here is how it broke down. They started with making a beautiful looking base card and built the set from there. Pictured below are a few base cards that I pulled from my first blaster box.

This set is not inundated with pointless insert sets that take away from the simplicity of the set. The insert set that is present is the 'Bowman Platinum Porspects" set of 100 cards and each of those has different colored refractors as well. pictured below is a purple refractor parallel of the Manny Machado Bowman Platinum Prospects card.

There are parallels and refractors of each card which makes the smaller sized base set of 100 cards adaptable. here are a couple examples of the parallel/refractors you can get out of this set.
the pick below is a few 'Xfractors' which have a really cool checkerboard like rainbow finish.

 The pick below is a few of the Green parallel and if you notice the Platinum Prospect green parallel on the far right is serial #'d /599. which is another appealing aspect to these cards.

These are just a few of the parallels and refractors and I have not been able to pull an autograph or a game used card yet but I have checked them out on Ebay and they look great. If you have a chance to check out this set I highly recommend it. The packs are light on the amount of cards but the cards that you get are a great design and you have a chance at getting some really nice cards of your favorite superstars. Thanks for reading my latest review and as always... Peace and Baseball cards!

Non-sports sportscards... Me no likey!

The Baseball card industry has been on its own since the early 1950's. Before that the cards were placed in cigarette and gum packs. Foe example: The 1934 Goudey Gum card of Charley Gehringer pictured below. these cards came along with packs of gum and probably cost like a penny 80 years ago.

I love it. Baseball cards bring happiness to millions of collectors worldwide. but the industry has been bastardized by the card producing companies that are reaching for something that just is not there. There has always been offshoots of the sportscard industry that created sets of collector cards for things like Star Trek, Transformers, or Garbage Pail Kids. These card sets are fantastic and provide a tangible way for fans to collect something that commemorizes your favorite cult classic movie or freaky weird painted likenesses of Han Solo on a rectangular piece of cardboard. The problem that I am having is seeing non-sport cards infiltrating my beloved Baseball card sets. for example: in this years 2011 Topps Allen and Ginter set has cards made up of a number of non-sport people and items like The Royal Wedding (see below) yes you read that correctly the Royal FREAKING Wedding. Check it out.

Its a great picture of the very Regal William and Kate but this is not a set of Cricket or Polo cards. I realize it is an important pop culture event for England and some of the rest of the world, but does it really have to be in this set of cards of a very American game. here is another one that made a previous appearance in one of my blogs.

yup, thats a Surfer card. Not just a card but his autograph as well. FAAAAAANN TASTIC. why would this card make me want to buy more of this set if what I am looking for is a baseball card. at least surfing is actually a sport. whats next putting presidents card into my sets as we... wait... whats that? THEY PUT THE PRESIDENT IN THE SET TOO??? RIDICULOUS!
I'm done.
Before this blog comes to an end its time for everyones favorite segment.

GEMS OF THE DAY!!!!!!

Top Left: Tom Henke is just a happy fun loving guy with a fantastic Forest Gump-esque expression.
Top Right: Is that???? oh man it is... Ladies and gents, twerps and nerds... making his 2nd appearance in the GEMS section is KennnnnNNNNN PHELPS with another doozie. I have a feeling he will be back in later installments.
Bottom:  Mike Griffin... WHAT THE... Your face kinda scared me there. Nice hair Mike... Wowza. stand back ladies I think he might on the registry... and not the bridal registry... the State one.

Alright well again I thank you for your continued readership and as always. Peace and Baseball cards.

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter set review.

         Let me just start out with saying that I  L O V E D  the 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter that being said, today, July 13th 2011 marked the release of the new 2011 Topps Allen and Ginter set. The cards are Beautiful, the price of the boxes is... tolerable (roughly 100$ per box of 24 packs), the distibution of the cards throughout the box... Sucks!! In my opinion as a long time collector, there is no reason that in one box I should receive duplicates of any cards the base card set is 350 cards the last 50 cards of which are short printed which means they are placed less frequently in the packs than other cards and there is just less of them. The fact that I want to build just the base set (cards numbered 1-350) if I did not buy any single cards on ebay or in the card store I would have to AT LEAST buy 3 boxes of cards. Don't get me wrong I love opening cards but I do not love the way that Topps has gotten one over on its collectors. I witness my friend Jon open 4 boxes of this set which is 96 packs of cards @ 8 cards per pack. and STILL was unable to put even 1 complete set together. he pulled out 7 of the same insert card...7!!!!!! Absolutely ridiculous!!! I felt bad for him after he pulled the 4th duplicate but then we just got a few laughs about how stupid it was. needless to say he will be contacting Topps about the injustice.
        O.K. venting complete. I better stop before start to hate Topps, because I really don't. they have produced some great cards this year, and Ginter is a fantastic product as well it just has a few minor production/organization flaws. Lets get to the meat of it. The box that I opened really was a GREAT box as far as 'hits' were concerned. I pulled some great cards.
Set Layout:
Left: This is the standard base card from the set. Cards are great and classic looking with the last name of the player on the top left of the card and the brand name 'Allen and Ginter' in a solid color title bar along the bottom of the cards. The back of the cards are almost identicle to last years.
Top Right: Is a standard base card right?? Wrong! notice the corners of that Tulo card there are arched designs that are supposed to be part of some awesome and some ridiculosly hard to crack code throughout the entire set. There is a reward from Topps for the first person to crack it. FYI its NOT gonna be me. this is a pretty cool variation and competition for this set.
Bottom Right: This is the standard mini variation of the base card. look the same as the standard base. just smaller.

Top Left: Is the Hometown Heroes insert which is probably the most prevalent insert that one will see throughout this set. 100 card set of star players set on a cool looking card showing their hometown and state.
Bottom Left: This is one of my favorite inserts. Floating Fortresses. This set features famous battleships of the world. its a departure from the baseball players but tastefully done and draws in appeal for collectors of not just baseball cards.
Right: is an insert set of 'Minds that Made the Future' each card features a famous inventor or innovative thinker. not exactly a great subset for a baseball card set. nuff said.



The picture below shows a few of the different mini insert cards that are included in the set. including an endangered species set, 'mysterious figures' set, and even a facial hair insert set.



Now on to the real gems of the box. Each box contains 3 'hits'. my hits consisted of Derek Jeter Jersey card, Ryan Braun Bat card and a David Ortiz bat card. Pictured below is an example of these game used cards.

Overall I think Topps has created another stellar product. There were just a couple of aspects from the opening of the box and seeing doubles of multiple cards in just 1 box was a turn off. The Game Used cards that I managed to pull from the box made up for it in my mind, but now I need to do a lot more searching in order to complete my set... who am I kidding it just gives me more cards to search for. I love the thrill of the hunt. If you like Baseball sets that have a few misc. topic cards and novelty cards mixed in it is my suggestion that you check out this product. Thanks for taking the time to read my newest installment and as always, Peace and Baseball cards!!

Baseball cards... and surfers??

On my way back from a test out in Grand Rapids yesterday I figured I would rest my fatigued mind with a quick stop at my favorite Card Store. as mentioned before All-Star Sportscards, Apparel & Memorabilia Located in grand Rapids. Being that it was a weekend the owner Dan was not working but I figured it would a respite from the traffic and the 2 and a half hour test I had just completed. As usual I purchased a couple of grab bags which always provide a laugh because of the late 1980's and early 90's cards that are tossed in with a mix of current premium cards (some of these classics can be seen in my 'Cards of the Day' section located below), Its always a treasure hunt searching for a game used jersey/bat card or autograph of that favorite player. I got some real laughers this go round which I will address when i get to that point.
There are a couple aspects of card collecting that have reignited the fire of collecting for me. One of them is selling the cards that I don't necessarily want to keep on Ebay. I dont make enough money to retire on but what it does for me is allows me to continue to collect cards even though I dont have a job because I am not spending money out of my own pocket to buy the cards. It is the cards that are paying for themselves.
The other aspect that keeps me collecting is having another friend that is in to collecting cards as much as I am. The ability to go to shows and shops together makes it a fun hobby and a way for both of us to continue our hobby. we are always looking out for cards of players that each collects and then everytime we see each other the reaction is normally, "I have cards for you" and everytime either one of us hears that our heart jumps just a little with curiosity of what those cards may be. Without a fellow collector I may not even be into collecting anymore. Anyways enough with the mushy stuff. Lets get down to the real reason for this blog showcasing the cards and a checking out the new product.
Recent Gems:
while at the card shop yesterday I purchased 2 packs of the new 2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions and 3 packs of 2008 Upper Deck Goudey. I pulled 2 autographs from these 5 packs. which are pictured here.
Left: 2008 Upper Deck Goudey Graphs Brandon Phillips. Great pull because I am currently collecting this set
Right: 2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Autograph of Surfer Layne Beachley... Really a surfer autograph in a sportscard set??? I was not too thrilled when I saw this auto but I guess its better than buying a pack that did not have anything good. The set overall is a pretty good looking set with a lot of different people from different sports. 

On Ebay in the midst of all of my wheeling and dealing that I do. I purchased a lot of 3 'Hot packs' from 2010 Topps Update. a hot pack is a pack that is guaranteed by the seller to have a game used jersey card or an autographed card in it. so I was just hoping to get a player that I collect. (which I did not) but what I did pull out of one of those packs was this:
2010 Topps Update All-Star Stitches Game Used Jersey/Autograph of A's star closer Andrew Bailey. This card is serial #'d 24/25!! and the odds of pulling this card is like 1 in every 2,000+ packs! I was pretty happy to see this come out of that pack even though it was not a favorite player of mine.

Now that I have boasted a little bit about how my collection is growing a little bit. lets check out some of the REAL goodies that I got yesterday out of these grab bags. Its time for everybody's favorite part of the Blog. the CARDS OF THE DAY!!!!

Mustaches and a rec-specs!!! The looks of the Faces of Tony and Guillermo are those of determination and thoughtfulness about the task at hand. but check out Ken Phelps. WOW! you really caught him at a bad time or just surprised him after filming another Farmers insurance commercial. Love these Pictures. 

oh and ummm here is another priceless set. These are just mustaches but don't these guys look like someone you would find in a slowpitch softball tournament? Check out current Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington with Jerry curl and mustache. the only card in the bunch that actually looks anything like an actual player.

well thanks again for reading my newest adventures in collecting and as always Peace and Baseball cards!!!