90's Cardboard: Classy

Yeah, this card is just straight classy. From the gold indented, cursive text to the nice shiny coating. This card is what exemplified the premium cards of the 90's. We've taken it a step up a bit here in this day and age because now for a card to be, "cool" it has to have like 12 autographs on it. Either way I love this card and in general I love what Flair did in the mid 90's. Plus, this Pistons uniform is just classy and nice, way better than:

Whatever the heck that is!

Meet My New Favorite

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my new favorite player: Yovani Gallardo. He's a young (just turned 26) pitcher with ace-like stuff and last season he set career highs in W (17) IP (alot) and K's (207), while recording his 3rd consecutive season with 200+ K's. I am not abandoning my former favorite (Ryan Braun), but I am sort of putting his collection on hold. I halfheartedly believe that Braun didn't do anything wrong, but I'm not dumb enough to ignore science. Plus, this Gallardo guy is hard not to love. He's young, he's the Ace, he's got a cool name and his last name is also the name of a Lambourghini. Plus, he was my second favorite player so I have some cards of him already:



And don't forget about this guy:


His 2004 Donruss Elite EE Turn of the Century Autograph RC /100! Yeah I already have what is one of the toughest and most expensive Gallardo cards out there. I picked this guy up in 2008 when Gallardo tore his ACL early in the season. Lucky for me he bounced back and has turned into a great pitcher. So if you have any Gallardo's sitting around, Let's make a deal!

No More PEDs: Here's Some Sterling

Ok enough talk about PEDs, integrity of the game and why Matt Kemp should have won the MVP (I agree, he should have 'roid scandal or not). I started this blog to talk about cards in terms of design, value and pack ripping awesomeness that originally attracted me to the Hobby. So to bring me out of my funk I grabbed a pack (mini box) of Bowman Sterling and I was not to be disappointed:
Here's a nice Red USA relic of DJ Baxendale. Don't know anything about him, but I like USA cards and I love relics of vivid colors, so this isn't a bad start.

Anthony Rizzo is now with the Cubs (Theo Epstein originally traded him for Adrian Gonzalez, but likes him so much that he got him back now for the Cubs). The Padres dealt him after a stellar AAA season and no so great start in the majors. He's regarded as a can't miss prospect who will likely make home in Wrigley very soon. Heck, with recent departures in the NL Central he may very quickly become the second best first baseman in that division. The next card made all of this worth it:

It's a Brewer, it's a Gold Ref /50, it's a RC, it's an auto, it's of a top draft pick. I'm out of breath! The only thing that could make this card better is if when Jungmann reaches the show he choses #29 (that's the card numbering out of 50). In his career for Texas Longhorns he was 32-9 with a 1.85 ERA and averaged just over a K/IP against metal bats. He's a 6' 6", 200 lb. gun slinger who is likely to become the top prospect on my radar. Good Stuff!

Design wise, I like the Sterling design, I like how they used some white this year instead of all silver. And the circle, cog-like feel of the cards is cool.

The Braun Situation Pt. 2

Braun made his statements and the MLB made theirs and it looks like Braun will be able to start the season on Opening Day, but that doesn't come without controversy and as a Ryan Braun and Brewers fan I am torn and still have numerous questions hanging in the balance before I will feel right about cheering for him.

First and foremost: His defense in the appeal apparently didn't hinge only on this 44-48 hour period that the tester had his sample, so what did it focus on?

He hasn't addressed if the sample was tampered, which leaves no answer for why synthetic testosterone was found in his system. And if they do claim that it was tampered with is their any evidence at all?

It was released by ESPN that Braun volunteered to take a DNA test for the MLB to see if that was even his urine and the MLB declined. Why would the MLB decline this? I guess it wouldn't prove much for Braun because he never claimed it wasn't his urine, but if the DNA test showed it wasn't the MLB would have virtually no integrity with their testing program.

My next thought is that Braun should VOLUNTARILY be tested during every round of testing (not sure how frequently that is) or at least once per month throughout the season. This would at least restore some credibility to him as being a loyal player moving forward. Does he have to do this? No, but he should. It would show his faith in the drug program and show that he is willing to go the extra mile to make sure his season's in the future are not tainted.

Either way, I'm left with a ton of questions. I truly want to believe that Braun never thought about touching roids, but just as I reserved my judgement on Braun when the initial report came out I'm going to put the celebrating on hold until everything about his appeal is more clear. And that's all a fan can really do. These facts may never come out and in the meantime I'll enjoy watching Braun play, but in the back of my mind will be a quandary, an extra thought to whether or not my favorite baseball player is truly clean.

My fan brain says, "Of course he's clean, he won his appeal, that's that... Brewers 2012!". My rational brain says, "Wait a minute, there's a lot of things that had to happen for this test to be false, just because he won his appeal and gets to play the whole season doesn't mean he didn't do it." But the facts aren't there...yet.

Flea Market: Vintage

Went to my local Flea Market today that comes once every two weeks and this being my first time venturing to the one in Eugene I had no idea what to expect (Eugene can be weird). And I did get more than my daily dose of weird, but I also came across some vintage:

1968 Topps Tom Seaver (Second Year) #45

1968 Topps Tony Perez #130

1968 Topps Joe Morgan #144 (Pretty sure they were the Houston Colt 45's in this day and age).

The best part is I didn't pay the sticker price for these cards. I actually talked the lady down to $24 for the three (at $8 per card I figured it wouldn't be too bad, that's $4 plus $4 for shipping right). Then I saw this nugget sitting in a soft sleeve on the dollar table:

What?! A 1967 Topps Steve Carlton for a buck! Maybe somebody thought this wasn't the same Steve Carlton that was nicknamed "Lefty". Maybe somebody thought this wasn't the same guy that later recorded 3,000 strikeouts. Either way I grabbed this card and said, how about I take another one off your hands and make it $25. She accepted and I quickly found a hard case to put ol' Lefty in.

So it might not be that great of deal, but the 68's are in nice condition, except the centering on the Seaver and for $25 to get four cards from the 60's! Well I don't need to tell you guys, but this beats a Topps Blaster and a rack pack any day. At least my flea market experience was better than this:



All of these except the Carlton are up for trade. As A lefty I like to keep cards of the Lefty.

I Got A Card!

After only 6 codes were entered too! Man, I feel so lucky. This is an actual card right, not just a digital gimmick? It is! No way, this is so cool because for a second there I thought the Golden Giveaway wasn't actually giving anything away.