Quickie eBay Pickups

Me and the eBay go together like fried chicken & waffles. While I've been trying to take 'er easy the past few weeks, I have picked up a few cards. My belly is on the verge of an epic explosion, and there aren't many posts to be read around the 'sphere tonight. While I may not have anything ingenious to offer, at the very least there will be 3 nice cards to look at. Hopefully everyone out there had a wonderful turkey day. I sure did, and am about to head off into the land of slumber. No, not because I am heading out to get a good deal on hot holiday electronics in the morning. I have to work at 6am. Hmmm.... 6am? Isn't that when the Blowout Black Friday sale starts?...... Sometimes it's not so bad having to work early on Black Friday.

Here is what I've scored over the past 2 weeks:

2008 Upper Deck Premier Patches Nick Markakis #'d /21

One of those cards that I've chased for a while and would always get outbid on. Not this time, oh no. This time it is mine.The left patch is just barely 3 color. There's a tiny bit of gray peeking through in the bottom right corner.


2009 Topps Finest Joe Flacco gold refractor #'d /75

Odd that these are #'d to 75 instead of 50. I've become used to 50 being the gold refractor gold standard. A sweet card of my hometown quarterback, and a welcome addition to my newborn football collection.

2009 Topps Finest Dwayne Bowe pigskin refractor #'d /25

It's time to play would you buy that card for $0.99 plus $2.50 shipping & handling! For me the answer was yes. Bowe is one of my favorite young receivers, and someone I hope the Ravens try to trade for next season. If he can get out of lowly KC, there's a chance he could be a beast.

That's all I've got for tonight. To anyone venturing out tomorrow morning, best of luck to you, and may you find excellent deals. To anyone checking out the Blowout extravaganza tomorrow, best of luck as well. I hear there will be some pretty sweet deals to be had, although quantities will be limited. Saw something earlier that said a CASE of '08 Documentary would be $11.27 or something nuts like that.

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.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Not the Brim Reaper!
A Dodger? You'll pay for this one Night Owl! I guess we've officially thrown in the towel this season, cause there's certainly no one in our bullpen who I would trust more or even as much as Sherrill to close things out. They mentioned Jim Johnson in the article, but he's been shaky this year.

This sort of sucks, but if this kid Josh Bell we got in return turns out to be ok, then I'm happy. Ultimately it means that the writing is probably on the wall for Melvin Mora, as his contract is up at the end of this season.

Anyone know anything about Josh Bell?

Darkness Surrounding a Rainbow Surrounding a Heart Attack

That's the only real way to sum up this card. Well... it's one way to sum it up at least. You are of course looking at a 2008 Topps Heritage black refractor of George Sherrill, the 2008 All-Star closer for the Orioles. How perfect is a black refractor for the man fondly known as "The Brim Reaper"?

The reason I say heart attack is because if you've ever watched George Sherrill come out of the 'pen in the 9th inning to get a save, you know that he enjoys living on the edge. He's a dangerous kind of guy. Look at how straight that brim is? Does he look like the kind of guy who takes the easy way out? Absolutely not! If the Orioles are up by 3, he'll give up a leadoff single, followed by 2 walks before striking out the next 3 hitters. If they're only up by a run, he immediately records the first 2 outs, before giving up a double, or walking somebody before wriggling his way out of it. Despite his cardiac pitching style he is still an effective closer, and a fan favorite in Baltimore (might have something to do with the fact that he wears #52)

I for one, am not a fan of his nail-biting saves, but do appreciate his flat brimmed stylings.

This is my second Heritage black refractor, and the first from 2008.

New additions and first post

If you're looking for Bobby Brown, please click here. If you actually care about the cards I've picked up in the past couple weeks, by all means continue reading.

First up is this Frank Robinson Triple Threads card celebrating his 586 career dingers. I'm not necessarily a fan of Triple Threads, but won this beaut for $9.99, and already love it.


Next up is a Nick Markakis 2009 Heritage Black Refractor. This is the first black refractor I have ever owned, and although it was a little pricey, he is my favorite player, and it is a nice looking card.

All I have to say about this card, is a dollar well spent.


This jersey card celebrates Eddie's 1977 ROY award. This was included in a lot of O's cards that I won on ebay. It wasn't shipped properly, and one of the corners is dinged, but you can't tell that from the scan (grrrrrrrr!) Some of my first baseball memories are of the crazy fans at Memorial Stadium stomping on the bleachers and chanting "Eddie, Eddie". Good times!


This is a sweet Topps Finest Moments Paul Blair autograph that I am proud to say ran me less than $4, including shipping. He was a great player, and at worst I think Adam Jones will play like his clone.


Last, but certainly not least is a Jim Palmer autograph from UD Heroes. Even though he pitched the majority of his career before my time, he is still my favorite O's pitcher EVER, and now I own his autograph.

If you've read this far, thanks for sticking with me. This is the first of what I hope to be many posts.