Cards From Mr. Scott

I meant to post this hours ago, but today has been pretty terrible so far, and I'm just getting around to it now. It all started this morning, at 6:07, when I woke up late for work. I was supposed to be in at 6. As I finally arrived at the office, 45 minutes late, without a shower, I witnessed a hate crime on my way in the door, as someone had defaced the sushi bar next door, and left some not so nice racial epithets scribbled on the front door. As if that wasn't bad enough, it's been insanely busy since I got here, and all I can think about is how much I'd rather be at Orioles Fan-Fest today, instead of being stuck at work. Saturday is typically the slowest day here, so typically that is when I catch up on posting. Not today. Not at all. At least not until just now.

In retrospect, that might not be such a bad thing, especially since Mr. Scott of Mr. Scott's Baseball Cards, sent me a couple of cards of a player who until a few hours ago was only a former Oriole. What was old is new again, and Miguel "B-12" Tejada is once again back in Charm City. This morning the Orioles and Tejada reached an agreement on a one-year deal, and he will most likely play 3rd base this time around.

The only Yankees fan I like is the one who is currently sending me O's cards. This rule currently applies to Mr. Scott, and Mr. Scott only. I am only capable of setting aside my hatred on an individual case-by-case basis.

2005 Leaf Certified Materials Miguel Tejada "Certified Skills" relic

Well isn't this card fancy. While I do not like Tejada, I am sort of happy to see him back in town, especially so because he's only here on a one year deal, and most likely won't be a payroll crusher. We do need someone to play third base, and Tejada, even at his worst still puts up decent numbers. After the season Melvin Mora had, I doubt the bar is set very high to begin with.

2008 Topps Lou Montanez "Red Hot Rookie" refractor

What a great looking card! Nice action shot, loads of shine, and a ton of color. Too bad Topps took the cheap way out in '09 and didn't make the rookie redemption cards with refractor technology. It still took them like 8 months to produce them....

2007 Bowman Chrome Miguel Tejada xfractor

It's still so busy here at work that I won't have time to write up a witty little editorial for each card.

2006 Bowman Chrome Brian Roberts xfractor

Do you think the Freemasons invented xfractors? Look at the angles.

1996 Flair Cal Ripken Jr. Promo

I wasn't collecting in '96, but the sheer beauty of these cards must have blown people's minds back then.

2008 Topps Finest Erik Bedard blue refractor

There has been some buzz about this guy possibly coming back to Baltimore as well.

2008 Topps Finest Erik Bedard green refractor

I'd be ok with it if he was willing to pitch more than 5 innings an outing, and could stay healthy for an entire season. Oh, and he has to be nice to the media as well. I work with a guy who used to be a cameraman for the O's broadcast network, and he has quite a few stories of nasty run-ins with Bedard the recluse.

2002 Topps Archives Frank Robinson refractor reprints

I've always been bothered by the fact that he is clearly wearing a Reds uniform in this photo. It bothers me so much that I don't own the original yet. Some things never change.

Thanks for the great cards Mr. Scott. Expect a return package chock full o' evil pinstripers some time next week.

To any O's fans out there who made it to FanFest, please post some pics or something. I'm literally green with envy right now.

Blue Moonshots

Not only is tonight New Year's Eve, it's also a full moon. Not only is it a full moon, it's also the second full moon of the month and 13th of the year, which makes it a blue moon as well. Typically, there is on average (just like Upper Deck), one full moon a month, but every once in a while, roughly every 2-3 years, that wacky lunar calendar decides to throw a curve ball, and give us an extra full moon. I figured since my favorite player's nickname is "Moonshots", that this would be an ideal time to showcase a couple of "Blue Moonshots"

Markakis earned his moniker by hitting towering home run after towering home run in the minor leagues. If you've ever had the pleasure of watching him launch one in person, there's no doubt you'll agree that he is well on his way to earning that very same nickname in the majors.

Happy New Years Eve everyone!

Be safe out there, and most importantly, have fun! It's hard to believe that not only is a New Year upon us, but a new decade as well. It's been a crazy year for me, from being laid off, and starting my blog, to finding a decent job and getting engaged. I can honestly say that 2009 has been full of it's ups and downs, and I am curious to see what 2010 has in store.

Flea Market Finds- Hall of Fame Alert!

Budget: $40
Mission: Good deals & player collection finds
Results: See for yourself

2008 Bowman Sterling Joe Flacco blue refractor

Total cost: $8.00. It's probably worth less than that after last night's stinker. Thanks to New Card Smell, I now know where this card comes from. Until spotting this one at the flea market, I'd never seen one like this before.

2008 Topps Finest Nick Markakis green refractor #'d /199

Total cost: $2.00. One step close to the rainbow. I now have the green, gold and black variations of this card.

2005 Upper Deck Classic Fantasy Team Dennis Eckersley

Total cost: $1.00. It's a card of a Hall of Famer, and it's made out of wood. For a dollar? No brainer.

1973 Topps Hank Aaron

Total cost: $5.00. My first Aaron, and it was found in the five dollar bin.

1951 Bowman George Stirnweiss

Total cost: $4.00. I mainly bought this cards cause off this guy's nickname. It's my first '51 Bowman, and aside from the staining there on the bottom, is in pretty good shape. Oh, and that tape spot there on the back. It could be worse though.

1934 Goudey Charlie Grimm

Total cost: $10.00. My first '34 Goudey! It's only one of the most iconic sets of all time. That white spot on the back is part of the price tag that I didn't remove from the penny sleeve.

1955 Bowman Eddie Mathews

Total cost: $10.00. I was pretty thrilled to see this in the ten dollar bin. There was a '59 Topps Mathews in there as well, but it was in slightly worse shape than this creased up '55 Bowman.

Once again, the Dundalk flea market has yielded some great cards, and sweet deals. Needless to say I'm pretty psyched about being able to add all of these cards to my collection, but especially that '34 Goudey, as beat as it is.

I have officially edited the Beard-O-Meter, due to popular demand, and also have hereby accepted the term Beardometer as an acceptable alternative.

2008 Topps Chrome Football Retail Box Break Pt. 3- Refractor Maddness

These are all refractors of one flavor or another. For some reason these didn't scan particularly well. I think it's due to the black borders and whatnot. They look MUCH better in person, that's for sure.

Eli Manning refractor

Kellen Davis RC refractor

Keenan Burton RC refractor

Steve Smith refractor

Wow, this card sure is beautiful. I don't know much about football cards, but this has to be pretty darn close to perfection. Great action shot, great expression on Smith's face, and it's a refractor. The colors certainly don't hurt either.

Adrian Peterson Pro Bowl refractor

Speed racer himself.

Dan Connor RC copper refractor #'d /549

Carson Palmer refractor

Anquan Boldin refractor

Chad Henne RC refractor

Anthony Morelli RC xfractor

Greg Jennings xfractor

Marion Barber xfractor

Brian Urlacher xfractor

Bobby Engram xfractor

Cory Boyd RC xfractor

Brian Griese xfractor

Chevis Jackson RC blue refractor

Jermichael Finley RC blue refractor

Ryan Grant Playoffs blue refractor

Jeff Garcia blue refractor

Brett Favre Flight to 420 white refractor #'d /99

Hit of the box, for sure. Too bad it scanned like garbage.

Brett Favre Flight to 420 refractor #'d /149

Ooooh.... shiny.

So there you have it, one retail box of 2008 Topps Chrome Football busted for your viewig pleasure. I would once again like to Thank Joe V. for the great trade. I never expected to receive a wax box in trade, and that made it even more fun to bust. There were a ton of refractors in this box, and a ton of inserts as well. The stack of base cards is actually slightly smaller than the stack of refractors and inserts, which is great for me, since I was just looking for a good time, but I would imagine it would have been frustrating to someone actually trying to put this set together. As I mentioned earlier, all cards from this break are for trade, so let me know if you see something you like. For now, I'm off to the flea market to try and score some deals before the 1 o'clock games kick-off. The Ravens might not play till tomorrow night, but that doesn't mean I won't be watching.

2005 Topps Finest Football Mini Box Break

This is the final product busted busted during the little spree I went on last week. The plan all along was to buy a box of '09 Sweet Spot, but after looking around I realized that I could get a variety of older boxes for the same price. The box of '04 Finest, and the minis of '08 Sterling & '05 Finest Football combined still ended up costing less than that one box of Sweet Spot would have. At the end of the day, I may have been better off going with Sweet Spot, since most of the breaks I've seen have been pretty good, and even though I busted a variety of products, and pulled quite a few autos, none of them are anything to write home about, nor are they as nice as a Sweet Spot Signature.

This mini box guarantees one rookie auto, with Frank Gore being the cream of the crop. I really like Frank Gore. He's another one of my yearly fantasy guys, and has never done me wrong. I remember seeing a story about him on CBS before the draft, about how he was highly touted going into his freshman season at Miami, but just couldn't stay healthy, and is running on 2 reconstructed knees. Well, his knees certainly haven't slowed him down too much in the NFL, and I think he's been a lot better than most of the prognosticators ever thought he would be.

Enough jibba-jabba, let's get on with the break, shall we?

The Box

The Wrapper

The Base Cards

Drew Brees

Not that Phillip Rivers is a bad quarterback, because he certainly isn't, but the Chargers chose poorly. May there bodies age in a matter of seconds until their faces are so wrinkled they just fall off.

Priest Holmes

It's a shame the Ravens gave up on this guy once Jamal Lewis got here, because he really became a beast in KC. It worked out just fine, as Jamal was a beast in Bmore as well, but it always sucks when your team gets rid of a guy who goes on to become a star.

Plaxico Burress

Got a raw deal.

Phillip Rivers

Speak of the devil. The visor look is pretty douchey for a quareterback, and Rivers is already a bit of a douche to begin with. It's his attitude that I don't really care for. He just seems like a big baby.

Derek Mason

Only Raven in the box. He's been our only WR for quite a few years now, and is rock solid. I got mad love for D-Mase!

Fabian Washington

He's a Raven now, and sometimes I wish he wasn't. Fabian's play was solid last season, it's been pretty much the polar opposite this year.

The Refractors

Matt Jones blue refractor #'d /299

If this card were his, I think we all know what he's be using it for. Sniff.

Santana Moss green refractor #'d /199

Not much to say about the other Mr. Moss.

The Autograph

Darren Sproles black refractor #'d /99

Could have done a lot worse than Darren Sproles. Color Commentators are constantly referring to his as a "sparkplug". He burned the Ravens for a long TD this season. It was a little dump off pass that he took 80 yards to the house. He's a sparkplug all right.

There you have it, one mini box of 2005 Topps Finest Football. It was a very fun break, but I was expecting or at least hoping, for more refractors. The rainbow sticker autos are pretty hideous as well, and as I've said before, they do not belong on a product that dares call itself "Finest". For less than $20 this was a great product to break, and pulling a parallel auto of a legit NFL player made it seem like a good one, at least to me. This will probably be the last box break for a while. I know I always say that, and am probably full of crap once again, but I should really make an effort to spend less money busting wax, and concentrate on singles for my PC.