About that Million Card Giveaway haul...

I'd meant to do this a while ago when I received my shipment from Topps, but I ended up putting it off for various, unimportant reasons.  Regardless, here's how I did with my Million Card Giveaways that I ended up having delivered:

1958 Don Ferrarese:

-Condition:  B-.  It's a little faded and off-center, but considering it's 53 years old I'd say it looks pretty damn good.

-Overall:  B+.  This is about the oldest card I have (at least without looking through my whole collection), so that's pretty cool, and it's in surprisingly good shape.  Good deal. 

1959 Gus Triandos:

-Condition:  C.  The corners and edges are reasonable, but did a drunk guy cut the sheet this card was on or what?

-Overall:  B.  It's cool to have an Oriole this old, even if it's not one of my favorites. 

1963 Bill Dailey:
-Condition:  D-.  OMG custom Topps Traded card!  Dailey was indeed purchased by the Twinkies in '63, his penultimate season in his four-year career, as a previous owner helpfully points out.  Pretty crapped-up otherwise.
-Overall:  C-.  Cool design from a '60s card, but it's not in the greatest of shape and I'm not much of an Indians fan.

1969 Topps Rookie Stars:
-Condition:  B.  Some pretty crappy chipped corners, but pretty good otherwise.
-Overall:  B.  I like multiplayer RCs from Topps' old sets, so this was a fun one to get.  I got a good number of offers on this one after I traded for it, but as with 99.999% of MCG offers, they sucked, which was my gain.

1970 Gates Brown:
-Condition:  B.  Definitely off-center, and the corners aren't the greatest, but pretty good.
-Overall:  A-.  I'm excited to be picking up some vintage-type cards of former Tigers heroes like Gator, so this was a good start.  Got this one from Play at the Plate in one of two trades.

1972 Bill Freehan:
-Condition:  B.  A bit off-center and rough around the edges, but not bad.
-Overall:  A-.  Freehan's a guy I'm working on collecting a bit more, being a rare combination of a Michigan alumnus and Detroit Tiger.  Very cool.

1973 Willie Horton:
-Condition:  A-.  Imperfect centering, but pretty good otherwise.
-Overall:  A.  Another former Tiger great, with lots of years of stats on the back!

1974 Aurelio Rodriguez:
-Condition:  C+.  Bad centering and some rough edges/corners.
-Overall:  B-.  This was one of those Tigers I traded for to dump some of my unwanted crap, and it least it was a decent one, if not a Tigers star.

1976 Dick Pole:
-Condition:  B+.  Some rough corners/edges, but overall pretty good.
-Overall:  A.  Come on, his name is Dick Pole!  This one's headed to Tim of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame assuming it doesn't implode due to hilarity before it makes it through the postal system.

1978 Steve Foucault:
-Condition:  C.  Bad centering and corners.
-Overall:  D-.  Just a throw-in when I was dumping unwanted cards for Tigers.  I hadn't even heard of the guy to be honest.

1979 Jason Thompson:
-Condition:  B+.  Not much to say, this one's pretty decent.
-Overall:  B-.  At least it's a Tiger I've heard of.  Got this one from Play at the Plate in one of two trades.

So there you have it, 11 cards from 11 different years, including 6 Tigers for me.  I can't remember how many codes I redeemed or trades I made, and overall I'd say my experience with the system was negative, but now that I have these cards there's at least a bright side.  One other positive effect of the thing is that it may give me the kick in the pants I need to work on acquiring some of my favorite vintage Tigers, which is great.

The Tigers are all mine and I mentioned that the Pole is heading to Tim, but the other four would still be available for reasonably comparable Tigers.

MCG or KITJ: #2

Well that didn't take long.  Today's episode features a two-fer for double the fun!

Today's contestant:

Again we have someone interested in my 1972 Bill Freehan.  User Meagan21 is dying for this card and makes two enticing offers (how to choose?!):  a 1987 Mike Schmidt and its all-star counterpart.  Maybe the chart will help me decide:

Pros	Michael Jack Schmidt! Two cards to choose from I think I only have five complete sets of '87 Topps and maybe 10-20 other copies of these otherwise	Only one choice makes things easier Definitely rarer Not as likely to be a poor condition buyback from Topps
Cons	Cards are no replacement for human contact, albeit a foot in the groin I CAN'T CHOOSE Wood paneled cards are ugly	Ow, my balls! If either Schmidt is worth a '72 Freehan, then I can probably take a Schmidt and trade it for a '68 Kaline! Pain takes a few hours to go away; junk wax can be thrown away

And the winner is...

A KICK IN THE JUNK by a hair.  Seriously, do I need to rename this feature "Junk wax or kick in the junk?"?  For making this appalling offer, I now pass sentence on Meagan21:

Remember, everyone: keep those trade offers reasonable or Rod Roddy might be calling you from beyond the grave as the next contestant on

MCG or KITJ: #1

Ok, I've had enough of this kind of MCG offer to get sick and tired of them, and it's about time I did something about it.  Welcome to a new Too Many Grandersons feature, wherein I publicly shame people who make unacceptable MCG offers while also making light of the situation.

Rest assured that you'll see plenty of these the next couple months due to the fact that I have a few desirable vintage-like cards (a couple pre-1970s and 60s, plus a '72 Bill Freehan that's uber-popular for some reason), and the world is filled with idiots hoping people will be more idiotic than them.

So without further ado, I present to you the first installment of

This took 5 minutes in MSPaint.  Deal with it.

Today's contestant:

 

Pros	It’s a card It’s a player I’ve heard of Ok, I’m out of positives, this offer blows	At least somebody will find it funny Builds character Not as painful as MCG
Cons	I think I have more of these than I have cells in my body Ever heard of junk wax? You’re seeing the same thing I’m seeing, right?  This is a serious offer?	Ow, my balls! Seriously, has this ever happened to you? Slightly less valuable than junk wax-era cards

And the winner is...

A KICK IN THE JUNK, by a landslide.  Congratulations, Stretch34, on your impressive victory.  To claim your prize, please drive your car off the nearest cliff, O'Doyle-style (banana peel optional) and stop wasting everyone's time with your dumbassed trade offers.

Hopefully pictured:  Stretch34

Until next time (which will be very soon, considering the number of horrendous offers I get), please consider your fellow MCGers when trying to offer that 1992 Walt Weiss for someone's 1963 Norm Cash, or you might be the next contestant on

Weekend post #2: catching up on stuff

I haven't had time to post much recently thanks to work, holiday stuff and other distractions, but now that I've finally had a chance to catch up a bit:

Contest time:  All About Cards:
The good folks over at All About Cards are officially running their 2010 Card Awards, so you should voice your opinion and enter for a chance to win some sweet swag!

Yo dawg, I herd you like cards so I put cards in yo cards so you can open cards when you open your cards:

Pictured:  Larry of ECDG

Seattle Mariners and more blogger extraordinaire Emerald City Diamond Gems managed to surprise me this week when a Christmas card from him graced my mailbox (like, an actual greeting card, from a stranger I met on the internet--sweet!).  Even more impressive:  it included a nice handful of cards he knew I'd like featuring Wolverines and Tigers.  I didn't bother to scan them all but here's my favorite of the group: 



That's a really cool patch representing some guy you might have heard of from the early days of the Tigers.  I love that it's the "D" from Detroit (as well as the first letter of my name, of course).  This is a sweet addition to my Tigers pile o' stuff, and is much appreciated, Mr. Gems.  Please keep an eye on your mailbox for my official response.  In the meantime, a big thumbs up to a great blogger who continues to help remind me why I got into this blogging thing with the rest of you.

RIP Bob Feller:
I know this was covered a hundred times over in the last week, but a couple quick thoughts about the loss of a great player and person:  I had the pleasure of meeting Bob twice over the course of a couple years, first at a somewhat large card show in my area, and again at a local mall, if you can believe it.  Both times, the price was ridiculously cheap, and both times he affirmed his status as the nicest guy from whom I snagged a signature.
The first time, he signed my Hall of Fame program I grabbed on one of my several trips to the museum; not only was he friendly and talkative, but he was able to remember and pinpoint the exact day the photo was taken!
The second time, at the small local mall show is the one I'll always remember him by, though:  he was sitting at a small table (with a relatively small crowd, considering the guy's a freakin' Hall of Famer and one of the best pitchers ever) flanked by some coffee and a plate of cookies from the Big Boy in the mall.  Again, he was very talkative as he signed, even speaking a bit to my Italian grandmother who was along for the ride with us!
So as far as I'm concerned, not only did the world lose one of the best pitchers baseball has ever seen, but also one of its greatest people, a truly amazing guy.
Here's a quick look at an autograph from the second signing session I mentioned above:

I hate you, Topps, I hate you with the passion of 1000 fiery suns:
I own the Freehan on the right.  No comment necessary:

My posting will probably about as light as the rest of you the next couple weeks, but I'll be back in full force in January with some new stuff, including a big contest/giveaway.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to y'all!

More MCG shenanigans

But first a quick reminder:

One day til those sweet boxes arrive.  Five slots left.

MCG stuff!

Well, I finally got involved in Play at the Plate's MCG-a-thon and I think we both came away happy.  Here's a quick look:

Basically this was a five-for-one trade, which means we both got something we wanted: Brian's amassing as much as he can to try to turn it into something better, and I got rid of some dead weight in preparation for getting my cards shipped. I asked for a Tiger, and a Tiger I got.

This paring down led me to try proposing another trade (which I rarely ever do), and unbelievably, I was actually able to make one I liked very quickly:  

Yep, I turned three cards I didn't want into one of Detroit-born Michigan alum and Tigers catcher Bill Freehan! I'm now very close to cashing out, so I thought I'd give everyone that reads this here blog a shot at what's left. A quick look:

1958 Don Ferrarese

1959 Gus Triandos

1963 Bill Dailey

1967 Fred Whitfield

1969 Gutierrez/Robertson

What I'm hoping for in return is Tigers cards from roughly these same years.  If you see something you like, please let me know.  If I don't get any interest I'll just get these shipped, but hopefully you can help them find a good home

Them's the breaks and other stuff

Georgia Mindset is the baseball card Rain Main or something

<understatement>As mentioned occasionally on this blog</understatement>, AJ from Georgia Mindset did a group break of six boxes of 2010 Topps Chrome and two 2010 Topps Triple Threads(results aqui).  He put a lot of work into this break and things went great, so throw him a bone and check out his post and YouTube video (I'm stealing a bunch of other content from him, so I'm just linking to it here).

Anyway, I got in for the Tigers and Orioles, and to my somewhat surprise I did pretty well.  My biggest hits:

Scottie "Too Hottie" Sizemore base autograph:  after seeing him play this year I'm not so sure he's the future at second base (gimme Polanco back, plz), but this is a sweet card to have nonetheless

Brennan Boesch Blue Refractor autograph: 

Bart, your sister looks like Blossom! (and there's the requisite Simpsons reference, carry on)

as far as my break was concerned, this was the hit of the day.  I'd come pretty close to snagging a Boesch sig or two recently but held off for whatever reason, so this was a nice surprise

Other break stuff coming to me:
I don't recall seeing many, if any, Tigers and O's in the Triple Threads, but I probably got about 1-2 team sets each in Chrome (including the base rookies) and a Verlander Chicle or T206 or whatever, so some pretty nice results.

Again, big ups to AJ, whose breaks I will continue to participate in due to his sick pulls (oh what, you didn't see this bad boy from Triple Threads?).  Next up is 2010 Bowman Chrome, which I believe he'll also be tying to a couple more Triple Threads boxes.  Don't get left out in the cold this time--his prices are reasonable and his M.O. is more than fair--note that those who missed out on hits got put into a draft where they got to choose something nice, plus one lucky participant even got 24 wrappers to send back to Topps for their "No, YOU throw this crap out, Topps" promotion.  Georgia Mindset:  great box breaker, or GREATEST box breaker?

I knew I'd get to use my "Topps is dumb" tag again and again...

Dear Topps,
Thank you, thank you so much for letting people like "Jester" here make daily idiotic offers for the cards I actually value a little bit.  By all means, please don't create some sort of mechanism that allows me to tell this person, "Jester", that his offers suck donkey balls and that he can shove his junk wax Pete Rose card up his hidey hole?  In short,

FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU, Topps. FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU, Jester, whom I'm publicly shaming for your ridiculously bad offers since I can't do it on the MCG site.

Now that that's out of my system...ROUNDUP TIME (aka everything you probably already read if you use Google Reader or some equivalent):

• BA Benny opened up a pack of 2009 Topps Chrome and pulled (GASP) a Granderson!  (and some other crap, whatever).  Also featured:  2010 Topps Chrome (two Orioles FTW)
• Some guy named BA Benny, who was not at all previously mentioned just now, got a trade package from a guy whose blog's name seems to honor Curtis Granderson but hardly ever mentions him
• Dayf's in the land of 1000 Chippers (naaaaa nana na naaaaaaaa nana na naaaa nana naaaaa nana naaaaaa nana na LARRYYYYYY)
• Night Owl keeps on keeping on loving him some night cards (round 1, part 4.  FIGHT)
• Crinkly Wrappers is getting ambitious with the Chromes and the rainbows and the so many colors, children, mwa-hai
• Beardy got new stuff thanks to COMC, and as a somewhat Orioles fan, I approve of this message
• Thorzul is group-breaking 2:  Electric Boogaloo (seriously, though, I dunno how many that makes, but his breaks always seem to go well so check it out)
• "'O" No!!!  Another Orioles Blog busted a box of 2007 Masterpieces, including meh relics and a meehhhhhh autograph, but at least the base stuff looks great
• Emerald City Diamond Gems wishes Tony Gwynn well, as we all do, even those of us whose team had their way with his in 1984
• The Daily Dimwit is contestin' it, and the prizes are pretty cool (hint:  autographed rookies)
• The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame is also contestin' it, Bazooka-style, and round one began today
• I Don't Know....Third Base!  gave away one card for almost every team, so if you were involved, see how you did, and maybe send some baseball card love his way too

That's enough for now, so enjoy all that reading, get in on some breaks and contests, and pray that the Yankees get their asses handed to them by the Rays or Rangers (we're all gonna need it)

Happy "I got nuthin'" Tuesday

Greetings fellow bloggers and readers.  I haven't had a chance to buy anything new, and I don't have any trade packages coming in our out that I know of so you get a random mix of stuff.  I do have a trade coming in from the BlowoutCards forums and a couple nice cards from eBay as well, so those will get posted when they arrive.  For now, enjoy the following:

More like Night Wink Martindowl?

Yoink (please don't sue, Night Owl, I'm advertising your blog!)

Night Owl liked the big-ass trade package of Dodgers I sent him, but more importantly he posted it in his ridiculously awesome "What's the best card in the package" format.  I won't ruin the surprise of which card wins, but you might not easily guess which comes out on top.  This is a post that's a ton of fun to read, so reward all the effort Night Owl put into it and check it out (as well as others with that tag).  Night Owl, you're welcome for the cool stuff, and thanks for the WTBCITP honor.

GSNHOF liked his trade package too

Yoink (please don't sue, Tim, I'll send you more Toe Nash cards!)

As previously posted, I finally got around to sending Tim of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame his trade package, and fortunately he was pretty happy with it.  It's nice that some people appreciate it when you give them unwanted cards of guys with funny names.  Additional major props to him for the awesome Michigan package he sent in return, it was much appreciated.

Yeah, yeah, now getting back to Night Owl...

This is a little late in coming, but I wanted to highlight NO's post about his most-wanted cards, or "Nebulous 9".  He gave credit for the idea elsewhere, but I read it on his blog, so I'm giving him credit.   I decided to do something similar by highlighting the baseball sets from which I needed very few cards as I desperately want to finish those.  You can find that (I call it my "five or fewer club") along the right sidebar beneath by blog links, followers, etc.  Please help, I'll give you stuff in return, maybe even money stuff!

Since everyone else is talking about it

If you're doing Topps' Million Card Giveaway, make sure you get your cards shipped before March 15 next year, or you'll hate the ides more than Julius Caesar (too soon?).  Personally, I'm trying to unload the stuff I don't want for a few more that I do before I go through the hassle of paying for shipping, but I'm glad to have been alerted that I would have otherwise lost all of my cards (NOT MY 1987 OZZIE SMITH!!!).  Anyway, that's more incentive for y'all to trade your unwanted Tigers to me.  I still have some 1960s and 70s stuff if you want to deal.

And some other stuff...

• Emerald City Diamond Gems has some extra '89 and '91 Bowman for trade.  I personally have both of these sets, but maybe some of you can help him out
• Wax Pack Relapse scored a box of 2010 Triple Threads, which I'm excited to see given Georgia Mindset's upcoming break...
• Have you ever watched Community Gum bust a box of 2010 Topps football...on VIDEO?

Another great MCG trade plus more mail stuff

But first...

Get in on Georgia Mindset's 2010 Topps Chrome/Triple Threads group break.  You wanna see some hits?  Here's some, including a nice hit, all from the Blowout Cards forums:

 
Another day, another great MCG trade

Brian of Play at the Plate had his eyes on my '73 Topps Pat Corrales (I couldn't imagine why) so we worked out a nice mutually beneficial trade.  I won't steal his thunder as he plans about blogging his end of the deal this weekend.  Here's an overview of what went down and my end, though:

As you can (possibly) see, the main attraction for me was the '73 Topps Horton, a nice older Tiger for my collection, and a 1968 champ to boot.  The other two were throw-ins with funny names, but Brian was nice enough to toss those in to make dealing an unusually popular (I'm guessing due to the nice shot) card a great deal for me.  Here's a better look at the Horton for those interested:

Once again, great deal (and easier to make via email than Topps' system, which I may now dub "Anonymous spiteful pissing match guess time".  Thanks again, Mr. PATP!

Mail call

1.  Contest winner Steve gets his package of 2007 Topps Series 1 gravity packs (and a set of the 2005 Topps Chrome A-Rod throwbacks, because why not?).  Enjoy those, Steve, and if you feel like it, let me know how you do.  You might be able to pull another Jeter SP. 

2.  Tim/SpastikMooss of the Great Sports Name HOF finally gets the package I owe him sent his way.  I found a few great sports names, including one of his favorites (God Shamgod) in a '97-'98 Fleer set, and I threw in a couple relics because those are always useful (note to Tim:  I don't think Cliff Floyd has a particularly great sports name, unless you count the fact that he shares a first name with Bill Cosby's best character, and you know, with the hippin' and hoppin' and bippin' and boppin', the kids don't know what the jazz...is all about!

Anyway, I just threw that in in case you can use it for trade bait).  Enjoy those and thanks again!   

Great Topps MCG trade and group break reminder

Reminder:  BUY BUY BUY

Georgia Mindset's group break team slots are going fast, so act now!  2010 Topps Chrome and Triple Threads, you know you want them. 


This MCG trade offer...DOESN'T suck?!

Peep this, loyal readers:

If it's a little hard to tell, I'm trading my '63 Topps Dom Demeter for a '59 Gus Triandos.  This might very well be the first card I've been offered for the Demeter that isn't A) 1989 Topps B) 1987 Topps C) 1989 Topps or any other unequal junk.  What's not to like with this deal?  I'm gaining four years and something like $3 in value, I've actually heard of Triandos and I could use more 1950s stuff in my collection (ie I might actually get this one, among others, shipped to me, if you can imagine) since the only other one I know of is on the MCG as well, a '58 Topps Don Ferrarese (vintage Topps Don's FTW!).  A close-up:

Bonus Triandos fact:  according to baseball-reference.com, the players he was most similar to when he was 28-31 were two of my favorite former Tigers:  Matt Nokes and Mickey "Greatest Batting Stance In the History of the World" Tettleton.

HT:  the Daily Shiv (apparently defunct)

Anyway I'm sure it's not even in the condition pictured, but still, pretty sweet, definitely the trade I've been waiting for.  Holy crap, enough writing, I'd better accept it before the guy changes his mind!