Mail Day – Trade with Plaschke

by Matt | Jan 19, 2012 | Baseball

Well, technically Plaschke Thy Sweater is Argyle. Plaschke, the person, is Bill Plaschke, a sports writer for the LA Times. Argyle Sweater is a blog run by Greg, who is an awesome guy, and as far as I know, not Bill. That works out well for me since Bill Plaschke probably doesn’t collect cards, and Greg does. See where this is going?

Since I posted my trade bait a couple month back, Greg and I had been working on a trade for a couple cards he was interested in. He got most of my Dodgers hits and in return he sent a nice collection of Sox stuff.

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Goals for Tristar

by Matt | Jan 19, 2012 | Baseball

Sam posted his “Goals for the Tristar Show” yesterday and I thought I’d do the same. They’re not quite as lofty as his (collect the signatures of an entire baseball team), but I think this show is a perfect opportunity to make great headway in a hobby I’ve really come to enjoy. These aren’t ranked in any sort of order of importance. I would love to accomplish them all, or at least make a dent in them, but just buying a couple really cool cards this weekend is going to make me tremendously happy.

1. Finish off current sets – I have a fair number of random sets that I need less than 10 cards to complete, many less than 5. I’d love to pick up those cards and finish off some team sets. Everything I need is base, so I can’t imagine it would even put a dent in my budget, but it’ll be the time consuming part of the day.
2. Double my auto/relic collection – I have no doubt it’s possible, but the really question will be how much it will cost me. I’ve never been to a card show before, large or small, so in my mind I’m picturing boxes and boxes of “hits” for $1. That’s where I’ll be. I want as many sub-$5 hits as I can find. With a collection as small as mine, having just started collecting last year, I’m going for quantity at this show. Quality will come later. I’m sure I’ll come across some nice triple autos or trifecta, holy grail, uber-cards at the show for $100 a pop, but I’d much rather get 50 hits than 1 super hit. Just this once I want to feast on the cheap cardboard. 🙂
3. Find a 1980 complete set – I know, it’s stupid. 1980 was a terrible card year. I get it. It’s also the year I was born. I just want this one, for me.
4. Buy a hobby box – As insane as it sounds, I’ve never opened a hobby box. I’m too cheap. I’d normally rather buy discount blasters. For once I want to see what all the fuss is about. Sub Goal – If I finish Goals 1-3 with money to spare, maybe buy a couple boxes and host a break.
5. Refill the trade bait – I’ve made some really awesome trades with some great guys over the past couple months, and I’m very glad I did. I got some really cool cards in return and I’ve come to recognize the true generosity that exists in the baseball card blogger community. I’ve also realize how important it is to have some non-personal collection stuff available if someone wants to make a trade. I’ll keep my eyes open for anything cool that I think you guys might enjoy, and I’ll definitely be posting a whole lot of new stuff after the weekend.
6. Enjoy the show – As I mentioned, I’ve never been to a show before. I’ve been to literally hundreds of other trade shows before, so I know the atmosphere, but I’ve never gone to a show to BUY anything before. I want to wonder through boxes of $0.01 cards, I want to browse the super hits, I want to see it all. Most of all, I want to have a good time, open some packs, find some hits and hang out with my friends

That’s about it. It’s Thursday, just two more days. I can’t wait! Also, if anyone is actively looking for anything that they might have at a show like this, let me know in the comments and I’ll keep my eyes open while I’m there.

Cards from The Dimwit’s Break

by Matt | Jan 12, 2012 | Baseball

I was happy to find a little present in my mailbox when I got home last night. It was my cards from Sam’s Group Break last week. He busted a box of 2009 SP Authentic, 2009 UD Piece of History and a box of 2007 UD Artifacts. I, obviously, chose the Sox as my team and got randomized the Rockies as my 2nd. I love the way Sam does breaks. The 15 person, 2 team format gets everyone what they want, plus a little something extra that maybe they weren’t expecting. Here’s what he pulled.

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A little X-centric

by Matt | Jan 9, 2012 | Baseball

So, if you’ve been paying attention, you’d know that I’ve gone a little coo-coo for cocoa puff over 2008 Upper Deck X. I honestly have no idea why. I just like them. A lot. I like the card design, I like that the set isn’t 7000+ cards (just 100 base!), I like that I can pull all sorts of awesome looking X-Potential cards seemingly on a whim, lol. Actually, what I like the most about the set is that it’s in all the bargain bins at Target. I got 6 or 7 packs at Christmas and just this weekend went back and the bargain bid had been restocked with nearly 20 more. I bought most of them.

I’m seriously considering, if I can find a hobby box of them (or if one actually exists – both Blowout Cards and Baseball Card Exchange are completely sold out) at the Tristar show in two weeks, maybe doing my first group break. I’ve been saving up some cash and I want to buy a couple boxes of things, but that’s the “opening packs junkie” in me talking. I don’t need or want 95% of the cards that would be in whatever I buy… so, that’s where you guys might come in. I’m must personally bust some, I might group break some, we’ll have to see how the mood strikes me. But if you see a “group break signup” some time after the show, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised.

I’ve gotten off topic. I wanted to show off a couple of the UDX cards I did pull. Read on after the break…

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