Mail Day!!

So I worked out a trade with Jamie, who just got back into collecting recently.  He also proved that yes, people other than the people who have blogs read this thing.  He helped me take out a big chunk of my '08 Heritage set, especially the Black Backs.  So I have adjusted the Needs List accordingly.  Here's what I got:

3 Base

17 Black Backs

2 News Flashbacks

1 Baseball Flashback

3 New Age Performers

1 Then and Now

2 Minis

1 Clint Sammons 2008 Topps Triple Threads #/50

I had no idea about the last card.  He said he was sending me something for a Braves fan, but I never thought it'd be that good.  Thanks Jamie and I'll get your cards out to you ASAP.

Is Fatty Coming Home?

After signing Guillermo Mota, the Dodgers are looking to cut Andruw Jones or trade him to some team.  And he was seen at the Duke - Georgia Tech game last night wearing a Braves cap.  Is he sending subliminal messages to Frank Wren?

Source

Turning Japanese, I'm Turning Japanese, I Really Think So

The Braves FINALLY made a move today.  Well other than that Vazquez trade and signing a backup catcher.  The AJC is reporting they've come to terms with Kenshin Kawakami and will be announced on Monday or Tuesday.  I've tried to find if he had any US cards from maybe the Olympics or WBC, but nothing has shown up. The only one that's close is this US produced 2000 Upper Deck Japanese Ovation.  But I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of his cards this year.  Let's hope he pans out.

Extreme Measures are Being Taken

Since the location is Augusta, Georgia, I know it's not dayf.  And plus I think his heart and soul, as well as mine, would sell for more than $78.77.  Or at least I'd hope so.  Check it out here.

Da na da na da na da na na...BATMAN!!!!!

There are 3 autographed bats in my collection.  I've already shown you one of them in this post and now I'm going to show you the other 2.  

This is an interesting bat as it's signed by Mark Lemke.  The Lemmer wasn't known for his hitting prowess as much as he was known for his defense so it would make more sense to have an autographed glove from him, but I'm not going to complain about having this bat.  Next up:

Here's a bat signed by Mr. Halle Berry, David Justice.  Unlike Lemke, Justice was known for his hitting, having a .500 career slugging percentage,  especially his home run in 1995 to give the Braves the World Series title.  Justice waned in his abilities after he left the Braves, but he would win the World Series again with the Yankees in 2000.  Fun Fact: He collected 23 of 24 1st place votes to win the 1990 NL Rookie of the Year.  The other 1st place vote went to Delino DeShields.

More Stuff (All Braves Edition)

Continuing on with the stuff that I have around my Parent's house, we'll do an All Braves Edition. There'll be a lot more Braves stuff as that's what I have the most of.  First up, we have a ball signed by koo-koo head himself Mark Wohlers.

This might have been another Christmas present, but I can't remember.  This is on a 1995 World Series ball as he recorded the last out to give the Braves their WS Title.  Next we have his battery partner, also on a 1995 World Series ball, Javy Lopez.

Here, you can actually see the World Series logo that's on the ball.  This is the only World Series ball I have that's not signed on the sweet spot.  I believe that I got this at K-Mart in one of those Mystery Ball packs and came out quite well.  Next are a couple of limited edition signed rookie cards that I have.  First up...

Here's a signed 1988 Donruss of Tom Glavine limited to 1988 copies.  I don't remember where I got it all I know is that I have it.  And to end this post, as all good posts should end...With Chipper Jones of course.  A 1991 Topps signed card.  This one is limited to 1991 copies.   You can never have enough Chipper.

Just like Ah-nold I'm BACK!

Exams are over, I worked out my scanner issues, everything is great.  So here's something I've been wanting to share for awhile.  I go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving and I occasionally get pieces of mail there still so it's not unusual to have some long lost TTM auto come back and surprise me when I go back.  This time I got a big surprise.  There was my SASE, but the postmark was from 2007 and somewhere in Florida, I don't exactly remember where.  I guessed that this just got lost in my Dad's closet and he found it cleaning.  I figured that it was probably some Devil Ray or Marlin that I sent to, but then got to thinking, I wasn't using my parent's address in 2007 so it had to be from 2005.  I knew at that point that it had to be something exciting for it to take a year and a half to two years to get to me.  So I open it up and see a form letter and this:

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?????????

CHIPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Needless to say I was quite excited.  From the form letter, it seems that Chipper takes all the mail he gets and sends any items back, which he did with me, along with a signed 5X7 photo that he signs while he's on the road.  In the gloom and doom of this Braves off season, just remember, we still have Chipper and he's a good guy.  And I think that counts for something.

So Who's Going To Call The Games Now?

Pete Van Wieren announced his retirement from the Braves broadcast booth today.  He's been with the Braves for 33 years and was a huge part of my years living in Georgia and even in South Carolina when I could see the Braves still on TBS.  I personally don't think that it's just coincidence that it happened in the same year that Skip Caray died.   They had been partners for so long that it was common for them to finish each others sentences.  "The Professor" has spent the last year calling games on the radio.  

It's interesting to see that in the past few years that while the team has changed, the whole organization around the team has changed as well.  The old familiar broadcasters are gone as is the GM.  The pitching has dwindled, but the bullpen has been horrible as usual.  I'm hoping they trade for Jake Peavey and get another power hitter.  I'm looking forward to seeing Jordan Schaefer play as the kid can stroke and has put his HGH woes behind him.  The Braves also need to find a consistent closer and not have an entire bullpen vying for the spot.  They also need to figure out fairly quickly if Smoltz and Glavine can/are going to come back next year so they don't spend the first half of spring training trying to piecemeal together a pitching staff if they're not.  There's so many questions for next season.  Hopefully they can be answered.  The Braves haven't seen the post season since 2005 and haven't been to the World Series since 1999 (Eff You Jim Leyritz).  It'd be nice to see October next year.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  The Jim Leyritz home run was in 1996, not 1999.  1999 did feature another brutal moment when Jim Grey interviewed Pete Rose.

2008 Tampa Bay Rays = 1991 Atlanta Braves

Congrats guys.  Let's see if you can win the World Series, unlike the 1991 Braves.  I'd also like to see a nice string of championships come your way.

Playing Catch Up

I've had a couple packages come in over the past few weeks. The first was a trade from Bailey over at The Nennth Inning. I sent him some 2008 A&Gs and a couple Tim Lincecum cards for some 08 A&Gs I needed as well as a few Braves card with the linchpin of the deal being this beauty.

I also got the Falcons cards in from dayf that I won in a contest. My favorite of the bunch would be this one of Keith Brooking.



I can only imagine the off-color jokes that were being made during this shoot.

Random Friday Packapalooza, Pt. 3

So after I hit up the hobby shop, I went to Wal-Mart for a few things that I needed as well as a few blasters. The first up is 2008 Goudey.

Pack #1
191 Frank Thomas
35 Rich Hill
15 Erik Bedard
145 Richie Ashburn
176 B.J. Upton
72 Magglio Ordoñez
20 Jeremy Guthrie
108 Corey Hart

Pack of Blandness except for Ashburn.

Pack #2
165 Ichiro
113 Glen Perkins
61 Victor Martinez
9 Jeff Francoeur
19 Phil Neikro
192 Alex Rios
88 Billy Butler
Yankee Stadium Legacy 2928 05/29/1960 Moose Skowron

Great pack. Frenchy and Knucksie make this pack. And I don't think there's ever been a bad card made of Ichiro

Pack #3
137 Catfish Hunter
85 J.R. Towles
87 Luke Hochevar
5 Chris Young Mini
166 Felix Hernandez
114 Justin Morneau
62 Brad Hawpe
102 Eddie Matthews

Another great pack. Catfish is a great pull as well as the mini, but Eddie throws it over the top. 2 vintage Braves in 3 packs.

Pack #4
59 Grady Sizemore
7 Mark "Show Me the Money" Teixeira
198 Vernon Wells
234 U.S. President James Monroe
48 Joe Morgan
178 Carlos Peña
140 Ryan Howard
36 Kosuke Fukudome

Fukudome, a US Prez and Tex in a Braves uniform. Another good pack. And I can't get a Joe Morgan card and not link to one of the best sports blogs on the internet.

Pack #5
33 Alfonso Soriano
163 Juan Marichal
111 Delmon Young
22 David Ortiz
152 Tom Gorzelanny
100 Chin-Lung Hu
161 Aaron Rowand
154 Jake Peavy

This is a disappointment after the rest of the packs. Not even Marichal could save it.

Pack #6
187 Marlon Bird
135 Dennis Eckersley
83 Hunter Pence
31 Pee Wee Reese
34 Derrek Lee
126 Mariano Rivera
74 Andrew Miller
YSL 2953 07/28/1960 Yogi Berra

Pee Wee, Yogi and Eck along with Mario's favorite player. Good pack.

Pack #7
71 Gary "I'm on waivers" Sheffield
109 Yovani Gallardo
57 Cookies and Creme Sabathia
5 Chris Young
190 Roy Halladay
138 Daric Barton
34 Derrek Lee
24 Josh Beckett

First Pack without an old timer.

Pack #8
97 James Loney
45 Nick Swisher
175 Vince "A tarp machine ate me!" Coleman
269 1936 Ryan Howard Mini
164 Noah Lowry
112 Johan Santana
60 Fausto Carmona
8 John Smoltz

Wonderful pack. Being able to remember the hijinks of Vince Coleman along with the '36 Ryan Howard and John Smoltz's smiling mug make for a great last pack. Overall, I might try and make a set of this. I like the design, the way the pictures look like paintings and the inclusion of older players. I wish there were more minis though. More Packapalooza to come!

Today Another Voice is Silent

The voice that many of us in the South and across the nation have heard call Braves games for many decades is now gone.  Skip Caray, 68, died today in his sleep.  I know from my childhood, I grew up listening to Skip, Pete and Joe call games on TBS and the Braves radio network.  While he never grew to have as much fame as his dad, he called games his own way often having great quips. He called the Braves for 33 years and his most famous call is probably that of Sid Bream's winning run against the Pirates in the 1992 NLCS.  I'll always love his naming random Atlanta suburbs for fans catching foul balls.  While he was probably done wrong by the Braves in his latter years by being relegated to radio and Peachtree TV instead of the TBS games, Skip was always a professional and called games with words that, even on the radio, made it seem exactly like you were there.  Every time I went to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium or Turner Field, I loved the experience, but always missed hearing Skip call games.  Skip's son Chip has been calling Braves games for awhile now and I'm glad that his father got to pass the torch to him and hopefully, he can become as good as his father was.  A consummate professional, I'll miss you Skip.  We all will.  

I don't have anything to write about really

So here's a Chipper Patch card.  This is actually my first patch card I've ever owned as well as my only piece of game-worn/used memorabilia from Chipper.  Who has been tearing it up lately and it's finally getting people to notice him.  He's probably been one of the top five players in the National League for years now, but hasn't got as much attention as some other players who have done less than he has.  Even when he won the MVP, there wasn't the media outpouring that one would expect and I feel that his MVP year was similar to the same fanfare that Justin Morneau received for his in 2006.  Now Morneau has a few more years to prove that he's in the same league as Chipper, but I think that their MVP years are comparable.  Of course, Chipper is getting to the end of his career and is starting to be mentioned in the same statistical circles as Mantle and the like.  And when all is said and done, he'll probably be, arguably, the greatest switch-hitter ever.  That's right.  I said it.

Wait, he did what?

Unless you've been a hole, you've probably heard that Jon Lester threw a no-hitter tonight against the Royals.  As part of their coverage of this feat, ESPN posted a list of all the no-hitters in MLB history.  So I was perusing the list when something jumped out at me.  In 1991, there was the combined no-hitter for the Braves by Kent Mercker, Alejandro Pena and Mark Wohlers.  This is a memory that is etched into my mind and will never forget it.  So I keep looking at the list and I see in 1994 Kent Mercker threw another one for the Braves.  Wait...what?  It seems that the fact that Mercker tossed a no-hitter against the Dodgers went by the wayside when The Strike happened that year.  Kent Mercker might be the most unlikely player to have multiple no-hit credits to his name.  Him or Bobby Witt.  But the thing is, Kent is still playing.  He's on the 15-day DL right now for the Reds, but he's still playing.  Kent hasn't reached the level of performance he had when he was with the Braves, but he's been pitching well in recent years.  In fact, he was out of baseball in 2007, but got a spring training invite from the Reds.  He went to the minors, but was called up to the big club.  Hopefully, he can get off the DL and have some quality relief for the Reds, because I've always liked Kent.  Except when he blew games for the Braves. 

Mr. Anderson......

I'm done with finals and can finally catch everyone up on what's been grabbing my attention in the card world lately. When I collect, my main focuses are Braves and Chipper Jones specifically. However, when you're trying to collect a player of Chipper's caliber, the price of cards can get really high really quick. So I decided to look for someone, a Braves player, that I can collect and get high end cards of and not break the bank. After doing some looking around, I settled on a guy that caught my attention when I went to spring training. So here, for the first time, is my collection of Josh Anderson
While I don't have that many right now, what I do have are good quality and upper end cards. I don't think I've payed more than $10 total including shipping for any of these, with most coming in the $1-$3 range. Josh might not be a star right away, but flashes of brilliance were seen last year with the Astros. He might be the answer to the outfield platoon in left that the Braves have had for so many years. Also, my one complaint is that I need more cards of Josh in a Braves uniform. Even on the Co-Signers card, he's airbrushed. Tisk tisk Topps. So this is a call: If you have any Josh Anderson cards for trade, let me know. I might take them off your hands.

Jordan Schafer - HGH User

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/04/08/schafer_0409.html

The top prospect in the system has now been tainted. Hopefully, he'll not be effected by this and still be a great hitter when he makes The Show.

COTW for 3/9/08: 1994 Topps Finest #327 Marvin Freeman

"Starvin'" Marvin Freeman was one of my favorite players on the Braves in the early 90's. This was mainly because he was the only Brave to ever give me an autograph at the ballpark before the game started. He played for the Braves from 1990 to 1993 when he was released by the Braves and signed by the Rockies. When The Strike happened, Marvin was having a career year going 10-2 with a 2.80 ERA for the Rockies. Somehow, Marvin learned how to pitch in the thin air of Coors Field. Because of The Strike, he never got to be an All-Star. He pitched in the Majors until 1996, but never regained the form of 1994. Some say the incident with Jim Rome combined with his dwindling effectiveness sped up his departure from baseball. Marvin now is an assistant coach for a high school baseball team in Illinois.

Chipper. Hamstring. Tweaked.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/03/02/chipper_0303.html

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

Two boxes of 2008 Heritage are better than one! Here's a double box break:

Box 1:

I opened up the box to find a 3 panel strip and a buy back. Here's my buy back:

Joe played in the Major Leagues for 13 seasons (1948-1962) with his best season being in 1951 when he had 304 at-bats, hit .260 with 8 home runs and 37 RBI. Not the best card, but I love having old cards, no matter how good the player. 

Now the 3 card strip:OH...MY...GOSH! I about crapped myself when I pulled this out. This is like the best box topper EVER. Tex, Smoltz, The Jones Boys....this has it all. Dayf, eat your heart out.

Now, the box stats:
Base Set: 154/500 (30.8%)
Doubles: 0
Black Backs: 24
Chrome Parallel: 3 (Matt Cain 1141/1959, Vernon Wells 1159/1959, Miguel Cabrera 1176/1959)
Refractor Parallel: 1 (Felix Hernandez 85/559)
News Flashbacks: 2 (Clutter Family, Fidel Castro)
Baseball Flashbacks: 1 (Orlando Cepeda)
Then and Now: 2 (Eddie Matthews and A-Rod, Johnny Podres and Eric Bedard)
Clubhouse Collection Relics: 2 (David Ortiz, Eric Chavez)
I really don't know if I could have asked more of this box. If they would have thrown me an auto and a relic instead of 2 relics, it might have made it better, but I'm not really sure. But this was a great box. OK on to Box 2

No buy back in this one, but here is my 3 card strip from the 2nd box:

Goodness, that's a strip of straight suck. And a Matt Capps pink card. Ugh. Ok, box stats:

Base Set: 157/500 (31.4%)
Black Backs: 24
Chrome Parallel: 3 (Ben Sheets 1150/1959, Jose Valverde 1160/1959, Francisco Rodriguez 1456/1959)
Refractor Parallel: 1 (James Shields 76/559)
News Flashbacks: 2 (Luna 2, Dalai Lama)
Baseball Flashbacks: 2 (Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks)
Then & Now: 1 (Orlando Cepeda and Magglio Ordonez)
New Age Performers: 1 (Brandon Webb)
Real One Autographs: 1 (Bob Blaylock)




















The second box was nowhere as good as the first, however I did get an autograph which is an on-card signature. Bob only appeared in 17 Major League games in his career with 3 of those coming in 1959. He pitched 9 innings, gave up 8 hits, struck out 3 and had an ERA of 4.00. Once again, not a great player, but I'm very glad to have his signature.

This set is going to be a complete beast to put together especially if you're trying to do the master set (which I am). It'll take a minimum of 4 boxes to get the complete set and with the short prints and all, it'll take more than 4. Since there isn't a clear short print checklist out yet and only postulations (actually, Beckett.com has a listing, but I'm too lazy to go through everything again), I held off on listing how many of those I got, but they're 1:3 packs so I should have gotten 8 or so in each box. I'm going to put all these cards in pages and I'll update everyone on what the combined total of the completed set is once I've finished.  And just so everyone knows, this is a really hot product right now.  My dealer told me that wholesale prices on boxes have gone up $17 since Wednesday.  Get 'em quick!

COTW for 2/24/08: Chipper Jones 2007 Bowman Chrome XFractor 209/250

This is the first XFractor I have ever owned.  I found it on eBay last week for $1.04.  That's right: $1.04.  I couldn't pass that up.  I mean, a shiny reflective card of the best switch hitter in the history of baseball (yes, that's right...EVER.  There'll be a post backing this up soon, hopefully.)  So just look at the squares and ooh and ahh.