The Bearded Prospector

Prospecting is not an aspect of the hobby that I embrace whole heartedly, but with these two cards, I just couldn't help myself. The Hobgood is the only one that could possibly be viewed as an investment right now, seeing as he was a first round pick and all, but the Flacco is pure novelty. He was a thirty-frist round draft pick, and his being in the O's organization just might have something to do with his brother. You think? The back of his card does say that he's a gifted athlete, and has a compact swing. It'd be cool with me if the Flacco brothers ran Baltimore one day.

2009 BDPP Matt Hobgood xfractor auto #51/225

225 seems like a fairly arbitrary print run number. Don't get me wrong, I've seen worse (cough...Upper Deck...cough), but why not 250?


2009 BDPP Michael Flacco gold refractor #43/50

Only 2 numbers higher than his draft round, thus making it a true 1/1! The Flacco brothers are so talented that in 2012 Joe Flacco will play third base for the Orioles and lead them to a World Championship, while his brother Mikey will quarterback the Ravens to a perfect 14-0 record. There will be no Super Bowl that year due to the apocalypse, which occurs on December 21st. Rumor has it that Matt Weiters was so jealous of the brothers he single-handedly destroys earth, thus proving that he is in fact a deity. See you all on the other side bitches!

Picked them both up on eBay for right around $25, which isn't too bad for some hometown rookie refractors. Watch your back Garrett Atkins, cause Mikey Flacco is coming to get you. This season.

Mark it dude.

Last Week's eBay Haul

You know me. I've got a fever, and the only cure is more cards! The title may say last week's eBay haul, but do not be fooled. It is Monday, and a new week is upon us, which makes these cards now 2 weeks old. I'm pretty far behind. Let's see what I got, shall we...

2006 Bowman Sterling Nick Markakis gold refractor (not #'d?)

I don't know much about Bowman Sterling, but I thought this was supposed to be #'d /10. I didn't pay #'d /10 money for it, so I guess it's ok that it's not numbered. It's still a nice looking refractor.

2009 Upper Deck SPx Ed Reed shadowbox

Ryans Memorabilia just posted one of these as well. For a case hit, they come fairly cheaply on eBay. Reed should find himself in Canton when his playing days finally come to an end, and he's also my favorite Raven of all time (no offense to Ray Lewis).

2009 Topps 206 Adam Jones printing plate

This was the only photo of this card I saw on eBay. The description mentioned it was the black plate. When I flipped it over, this is what i saw:

No wonder they only showed the back. There's barely any image there at all. At least it was cheap, less than $7 delivered. I'm a total sucker for framed cards, and have been trying to score a framed printing plate for a while now. Some people hate printing plates, but I think they're cool. I've done a lot of graphic design work in my day, and have a respect for the printing process. Besides, if Upper Deck had seeded the '89 Griffey rookie plates in packs, there wouldn't be so many of them floating around these days. As long as you don't drop crazy money on them, printing plates are typically the cheapest and easiest way to acquire a one of one featuring your favorite player.

There will be another eBay post later this week featuring the few cards I grabbed last week. There should also be a CheckOutMyCards post, assuming my purchases arrive in the next couple of days.

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.

Trade With Joe

This story starts the same as any trade story. One of my wonderful readers, Joe, contacted me about a potential trade. He was looking for some Blue Jays cards, Halladay in particular, and I was just looking to score some O's. Joe got himself a nice little stack of Jays, including a Halladay N43, and I was able to add the following shiny and fabric filled cards to my collection:

2004 Topps Chrome Jack Cust gold refractor

At least in Oakland they let him on the field. When I first got back onto baseball, the radio announcers were always trying to hype Cust as the next Oriole slugger.

2008 Topps Finest Ray Rice refractor

My very own Purple Jesus, and my new favorite Raven. I have him in a fantasy football keeper league, and will most likely be adding his name to the players I collect.

2009 Topps Chrome Willis McGahee refractor

I ordered these cards just like the Ravens depth chart, Rice first, McGahee second.

2001 Upper Deck Game Gear Jamal Lewis jersey relic

It doesn't matter to me that he's in Cleveland now, or that his career has been in obvious decline for 2 seasons now. There will always be a special place in my heart for Jamal. He was a beast of a back in his day, and propelled my team to it's only Super Bowl Championship the same year this card was released.

2009 Upper Deck Legendary Cuts Frank Robinson jersey relic green parallel

I think this gives me 2 of the color parallels now. I've got purple, and now green. As far as game-used cards go, the design really works here, and looks classy to boot.

Joe, thanks for the great cards, and if you ever want to trade again, don't hesitate to drop me a line. Since it took me nearly 2 weeks to actually get this trade posted, I'm sure your cards have already arrived.

If anyone else has Orioles cards to trade, the lines of communication are always open. Despite the rate at which I have been busting boxes, I really should be saving my money right now, and trades are my favorite way to get new cards without spending any money. Aside from theft, I believe it's the only way.

Whole Lotta Chro(me)

Stopped by the LCS on Monday, and picked up 2 packs each of Topps & Bowman Chrome. As luck would have it, I managed to pull a hit from each brand.

We'll start with Topps Chrome. By now, everyone knows what to expect here; 4 cards per pack of chromey goodness, with some WBC inserts thrown in for good measure.

Pack 1:

#16 David Ortiz

#184 Shairon Martis

#3 Dan Uggla refractor

there's some sort of funkiness on the bottom left corner of this card. It's below the surface, so it appears to be a "factory defect"

#37 Carlos Delgado

Pack 2:

#6 Phil Coke

#119 Hank Blalock

#237 George Kottaras autograph

why couldn't you have been Nolan Reimold?

#132 Derek Lowe

Finally got me a Topps Chrome auto... too bad it's of a Red Sox player. Still not too shabby for $6 worth of chrome packs.

Now, let's move along to the BoChro. These were the first 2 packs of this year's that I've opened, and I must say that I like it considerably more than the flagship Bowman release, or even this year's Topps Chrome release. I also picked up 2 packs, so let's see how I did:

Pack 1:

#BCW48 Dennis Neuman WBC

BCW50 Alfredo Despaigne WBC

#115 Jason Bay

#29 Russell Martin

Pack 2:

#BCP171 Bryan Shaw

#BCP180 Taylor Harbin

#BCP161 Mark Hallberg #04/50

I'd of rather pulled Mark Wahlberg.

#31 Rich Harden

Well that about does her. 4 packs of chrome, posted for your viewing pleasure. All cards are for trade, so if you're interested in something, don't hesitate to drop a comment.

On a side note, how come no one ever told me "My Name is Earl" is so damned funny? I hate it when i don't realize a show's brilliance until it's in syndication. It happened with Futurama, King of the Hill, and now My Name is Earl. At least it's on TBS every day now, so I won't have to wait a week between episodes.