Foreshadowing

I actually meant to write a proper post today, but stuff ended up happening which prevented this from occurring. I know what you're thinking, there's still time, it's only 7:45 there on the east coast, and you would be correct. However, I am already sinking into the couch cushions and the odds of me getting up to actually scan anything are about the same as the odds of pulling a mini wood parallel out of your A&G box.

What I am going to do is let you know what to expect next week. On Friday I received 4 trade packages, and as a result have about 200 new Orioles cards. One trade has already been posted, and there are 3 more coming up whenever I can motivate myself to use the scanner. As mentioned last week, there's also going to be a Yankee card (EWWW!) featured at some point in the near future, and hopefully a full breakdown of what was in my 4 Allen & Ginter's boxes. There's also a chance you'll be seeing red later this week, and there will probably be a Burke Kenny Octo-fecta update mixed in there somewhere.

Now that I am engaged, the wedding talk has started and a chunk of my free time is being eaten up by scouting locations (not exactly my favorite thing in the world). This weekend I also purchased a new bicycle, in an effort to get a bit more exercise. All of these things I'm sure will end up contributing to less posts in the coming weeks. For those of you that read daily, I apologize. You can rest assured that I'll still post daily more often than not, but I probably won't keep up the same pace I've been on (160 posts in 90 days). Lastly, I am not going to have much of a card budget for a while either, so no box breaks for a little while. I am still going to try and get to the card shop every couple of weeks and pick up some random packs though, which will definitely be scanned and posted.

That is all for now.

I Got A Rip Card!

Yesterday one of the most stupendous trade packages in the history of trade packages arrived at my doorstep. It was sent by fellow card blogger and Gint-A-Cuffs participant Ryan, of the fabulous Card Cache blog. He actually sent me a rip card... an un-ripped rip card... and MUCH more.

When I opened up the package what I saw before me were 4 individually wrapped packs of cards, 1 of which looked very familiar, and 3 that did not. We'll start with the ones that I didn't recognize.

Here is the first one:
Hmm... 1 "decent" Orioles player... doesn't really leave too many options now does it. Damn, that was mean.

Here is what I saw when the pack was flipped over, so I could open it:
Well, there are the odds, stated plain as day. This should mean that "on average" there should be at least one memorabilia card in here. Let's see what was waiting for me inside

2009 Upper Deck SP legendary Cuts #1 Brian Roberts

Looks like this is going to be a pack full o' Roberts. Let's see what else is in here, shall we?

2006 Fleer Ultra #FM-BR Brian Roberts Ultra Fine Fabrics

For a jersey card from a fairly regular set like Ultra, this card is well designed. It definitely looks better than any of the jersey cards from the Upper Deck base sets of the past 2 years.

2007 Fleer Ultra #FG-BR Brian Roberts "Feel The Game"

Another Fleer Ultra Roberts jersey relic, this time with a retro look to it. I've got a bunch of Fleer Ultra cards from both '06 & '07 but have never seen any of their game-used cards before receiving these 2. It almost makes me wish Fleer were still around. That's it for pack one, or at least that's all I scanned from pack 1. Lets see what pack 2 has to offer.

Here is the front:
And the back:
I suggest flipping your monitor 90 degrees counter-clockwise if you are having trouble reading that. I only scanned one card from this pack, because it was totally awesome. The rest were exactly what it said on the front of the pack, all cards of players who are no longer with the Orioles. The one card I did scan didn't seem like much at first glance.

2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia #TQ-26 Team Quads

I still thought this was a cool card, even though it features 2 players who were never exactly stars. I always like orange O's swatches as opposed to plain white or gray. It didn't even hit me till this morning that it clearly says "Team Quads" on the front of this card.

Well, I flipped it over, and this is what I found:
I've never owned a double sided card before, at least not one where the back was better than the front. Brooks Robinson! Sweet! No comment on Bedard.

That leaves one more mystery pack to be opened. Was I saving the best for last? You bet your balls I was!

Here's the front:
And the back:
Well, there's only a couple of other "decent" Orioles aside from Roberts, and we all know which one I'm hoping for. If you turned your monitor sideways, you'd know that the chances of pulling an auto out of this pack are 100%! On with the show!

2006 Allen & Ginter's #322 Nick Markakis

SWEET! Looks like a pack o' Markakii

2008 Upper Deck X #10 Nick Markakis Die Cut

The background of my scanner really makes this card look crappy, and the cat hair on the top left corner certainly isn't helping matters much either.

2009 Upper Deck Goudey #18 Nick Markakis

I still think this set is pretty damn ugly, but I like this card. I have to like it right? It's of my favorite player, and at least it actually looks like him.

2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts #37 Nick Markakis

Awesome! I definitely don't have this one yet, and was hoping someone would trade it to me at some point. One pack of Legendary Cuts was enough for me to know it wasn't worth wasting money on, so any O's that get sent my way I'm definitely grateful for.

Alright one more card in the pack. Unless Card Cache's pack odds are total lies (like some card companies I know) this last card SHOULD have some ink on it.

2008 Upper Deck Premier #98 Nick Markakis autograph

GREAT GOOGLEY MOOGLEY!! Thanks a TON for this one dude! Another sweet Markakis auto to add to the collection. This one is #'d 19/25. I'm not even going to complain about it being a sticker auto.

Well, that's it for the mystery packs. If you're still reading this, by now you're probably wondering where the damn rip card is that I was talking about. Well you should take comfort in the fact that there is still a pack of Ginter left to open.

Here is what the pack looks like:
For those of you having trouble reading what is scribbled in black marker, that word is DAMAGED, which is exactly what the pack contained.

Inside there were 6 horribly dinged up base cards, and somewhere in the midst of all that damaged cardboard was this bad boy:

Holy crap! It's a rip card! It's #'d to 25! Hand numbered at that! I really had to debate whether or not to actually rip this thing, seeing as it would easily sell for over $100 on eBay right now. In the end, I decided to listed to Bobby, and flipped the card over so it could be ripped, which is where I discovered this:

Holy crap! My Bobby Abreu rip card has an Akinori Iwamura back! This has to be some sort of error by Topps. At this point I am thinking this is probably a one of one super rare error card, and decide I am not going to rip it.

1.5 seconds later the pressure and temptation are too much to take. I ripped this sucker open and guess what was inside?

2009 Allen & Ginter's Burke Kenny Bazooka back mini #'d 7/25

I'm definitely glad I ripped it! The mark on the bottom left side of the back of this card is a little piece of cardboard that is still hanging after this card was cut in the factory. A few of my minis had those same slivers of freeloading cardboard. This card officially puts the Burke Kenny Octo-fecta quest at 5 cards. Not too shabby for a weeks worth of looking. The remaining cards I need are the relic, black framed mini & Ginter backed mini.

Much thanks to Ryan for the interesting and incredible trade package, and if you haven't checked out his blog yet, go there now, and let him know how awesome it is that he posts soccer box breaks.

Package From Topps

Along with the 3 INSANE trade packages I received in the mail today, (more on those as the weekend rolls along) there was also a mysterious envelope from Duryea, PA. Since that is where I mailed in my wrappers, damaged cards, and box UPC code, I figured this had to be my replacement cards, and that elusive missing "hit" from Ginter box #2.

Well... I was correct. Along with a standard letter explaining their customer service policy, the bubble mailer contained the following:

2 replacement base cards

2 replacement mini cards

1 mysterious little yellow envelope
At this point I'm thinking... "That envelope BETTER contain my missing hit, and it'd BETTER be an auto", since there wasn't one in box 2...

1 semi-crappy relic
I guess it could have been worse, it could have been a Corey Patterson or Fred Lewis relic, but I was really hoping for something better. My question is, how does Topps decide what card to send out in these instances? Is there a giant treasure chest full of relics & autos that someone wearing a blindfold reaches into to retrieve customers missing "hits"? For all anyone knows, the card that should have been in that box was a rip card, or a printing plate, or a red ink auto. Chances are it wasn't, but I feel like whoever processed this order just said "give him a shitty relic card, that way he gets his 3 precious hits, and we are not liable". Maybe I can get a buck for this on eBay, since that seems to be the going rate for Ginter relics of semi-stars these days.

Anyone want to trade for a Magglio relic?

Oh, the other humorous thing was that only the base & minis were in penny sleeves. The relic was naked as the day it was born.

Burke Kenny Octo-fecta Update & New additions

Some cards arrived in the mail yesterday, and the Burke Kenny collection is growing.

First up we have mini no number back. I really like that Topps decided to hand number these this year. For some reason hand numbered cards always seem a little more special.

2009 Allen & Ginter's Burke Kenny No Number Back #25/50

I also managed to score his autograph this week as well.

2009 Allen & Ginter's #AGA-BK Burke Kenny auto

So that's 3 cards down (base, NNO, auto), which leaves 5 to go in my quest for the octo-fecta. Based on what should be coming in the mail shortly, I may only be 1 card shy by next week. I know the hardest card to get will be his beard relic. I refuse to spend money on a card so disgusting, especially since I know how gross beard hairs are. This card will have to come my way via trade, and I may have to wait it out for a while.

I realized there haven't been many Markakis cards featured here for a while, and I wanted to share a new one that also arrived in the mail this week. It's another Ginter card, so I apologize in advance to all those who are tired of this set already.

2009 Allen & Ginter's Nick Markakis No Number back #48/50

There should be more stuff arriving in the next few days, so as always, there will be more cards to share. I'm even going to feature a Yankee card (GASP!) in the next day or 2. Please don't hate me.

2009 Allen & Ginter's Want List

Please be kind and send cards my way if you've got them. I need all the pity I can get at this point, since after busting 4 boxes, I am still this short of a complete set.

BASE SET: COMPLETE!

SP BASE: COMPLETE!

NATIONAL PRIDE: COMPLETE!

BASEBALL HIGHLIGHTS SKETCH: COMPLETE!

CREATURES OF LEGEND, MYTH & TERROR: COMPLETE!

Officially On The Hunt

For Topps Red Hot Rookie redemption #5. Topps announced yesterday that #5 on the Red Hot Rookie list is none other than Nolan Reimold, and I just have to have this card.

If anyone out there in the great ether has this card, and is willing to trade, please contact me.

Who Sent Me These Cards?

I've been caught up in the rapture of Gint-A-Cuffs for the past week, and was on vacation for a few days as well. As a result, there is a giant stack of cards on my end table that have been sent my way by various awesome folk, and unfortunately, I've lost track of who sent what.

This first card somehow managed to sneak right by me, even though I've been looking for a copy of it for at least a week now. I sure was surprised and happy as hell to see it, but am not sure where it came from. The prime suspect is Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, but I can neither confirm nor deny such allegations at this time. If it was you, please own up to it. I plan on putting together a boatload of trade packages later this week, and there might be something extra in it for you if you do.

Behold! This is my first card of the other bearded wonder, and officially can be crossed off the list of cards needed in my pursuit of the Burke Kenny Octo-fecta. Which may end up becoming a penta-fecta if I end up pursuing the silk & printing plates as well.

2009 Allen & Ginter's #61 Burke Kenny

I just took a blog break and ate some pho. It was delicious, but my mouth is on fire. Ok, let's get back to the cards.

This next one was in the same team bag as the Kenny, so I'm going to assume it's from the same person. Bedard is a wussy, and thankfully he and the time he spends being stand-offish while on the D.L., is now a problem for the Seattle Mariners. Thanks for Adam Jones & George Sherrill... suckers!

2006 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Eric Bedard

Alright, up next are 2 cards I am just about fifty percent half sure are actually from Matt.
I must have at least 3 copies of this first card by now, but Ginter relics are nice looking, so even if I'm not the biggest Tejada fan, it's a nice looking card to look at.

2007 Allen & Ginter's Miguel Tejada jersey relic

Matt (I think) followed that great card by sending me an ultra rare error card as well. This bat card is obviously mis-identified. It says right there on the card, "authentic game-worn jersey", but I'm pretty sure that's a chunk of wood inside that hollowed out "B". Brian looks none too pleased about this obvious oversight. Look at him, he refuses to even look in the general direction of the mistake. This card has to be rare, since it's an error, and will probably fetch a ton of cash on eBay. Make me an offer for it, so I can laugh in your face.

2006 Bowman Heritage Brian Roberts Pieces of Greatness

Let's round out this post with a card who's origins I am 100% positive about, shall we? This card came from eBay, and is the first Nolan Reimold card in my collection, and I hope not the last. The scan just makes me think about how dirty my scanner bed is at the moment. The nicest thing about this card is that you know exactly which game it was allegedly worn in. Oh, and that is tape along the top there, and no worries, it's just on the top loader. I hate when sellers do that, but they all seem to.

2006 Bowman Nolan Reimold Futures Game Worn Jersey

Well, that's all from me for tonight. Matt, if all of these cards are from you, then I thank you very much. Even if they aren't all from you, the one's that I'm fifty percent half sure are from you are great too, so thanks for those. If they aren't from Matt, and are in fact from some mystery sender, please identify yourself so you can be properly thanked for officially kicking off the Burke Kenny collection.