2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Project: Mega Mail Day

That’s One Big Stuffed Box!
(…time to bust this load…)

Okay, I admit it. I slept in this morning. While most of the working USofA is already halfway done with their scheduled day, I’m still in bed drooling buckets on my pillow and tangling up in the one sheet I’ve not kicked off. Don’t judge. I worked 11:30am – 10:30pm yesterday, and, yes, I am working later today.

But that b-tard mailman had to interrupt my beauty sleep! In the middle of my slumber, I was awakened by the loud clanking of the top of the mailbox. That’s it. I’m up. 10am. Man. I was shooting for Noon. So, with cracking knees and stiff achilles, I gingerly shuffled to the front door. I reached only my hand out because, honestly, no one needs to see my bed hair. My hand didn’t have to dig too deeply into the box to realize that I had scored big time today. Three full packages containing 09 A&G had made their way to my front door!

Interesting thing to note about these particular trades. These all came from female collectors on Pat Neshek’s Message board. That’s right Marie. That’s right Sooz. That’s right Patricia. That’s right Lucy. There are way more of you out there. Better get used to it, men. Their extreme care and generosity is going to make us look way worse than we already do!

PACKAGE #1
This little trade was put together through a series of private messages on Mr. Neshek’s board. These cards come to Crackin Wax courtesy of debbie25lw from Jersey. Hmm… which baseball team do Jersey fans root for? They have so many options!

One Creature, a National Hero, and a couple of Hoaxes minis. These have actually been pretty fun cards to collect. I’m doing myself a huge favor by not spoiling myself on the cards by looking them up on eBay, so it’s been even more fun discovering the cards in their entirety.

I WILL SEND:
09 A&G BASE 181, 293, 332
09 UD ICONS BASE 20

I RECEIVED:
09 A&G CREATURES 1
09 A&G HOAXES 5, 12
09 A&G NATIONAL HEROES 18

Thanks a huge bunch for the trade, Debbie! I’ll be sending your cards out between today and Monday.

PACKAGE #2
This was a nice little deal that took a little more time to hammer out, but an agreement was made, and I think both parties are pleasantly pleased (redundancy intionally redundant). This one comes from Utleyfan at the PNMB. I kinda have to give her some crap here, though, for not initially wanting to give me her real name. Don’t worry, Utleyfan. Your secret is safe with me!

Every time I get a big stack of National Pride cards, it really puts into perspective just how big a 75 card set can seem. Being able to knock a handful out in one fell swoop is always nice!

I SENT:
08 A&G BASE 4, 9, 18, 61, 88, 192, 238, 251
08 A&G STATE: 6, 7, 12, 17, 31

I RECEIVED:
09 A&G CODE 148
09 A&G NATIONAL HEROES 14
09 A&G HOAXES 18
09 A&G NATIONAL PRIDE 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 42

Thanks, S… I mean UTLEYFAN (hee) for the great trade!

PACKAGE #3
This last trade comes from caroline25 at PNMB. This trade involved a handful of random cards from my For Trade List for a whole mess of 09 A&G goodness. The only thing different about this trade is that she was willing to trade in my favor if I would send along a SASE… so I did! Yay!

I got so many cards from her that there’s no way that I’m going to have enough time to scan them all in, so I’ll just show some of the highlights.

That’s a heck of a variety of cards! I’ve got my UltraPro pages all ready to go for the fun night of organizing I’ll have after work tonight.

I SENT:
88 TOPPS 447
91 TOPPS 236
92 TOPPS 467, 711
07 TOPPS BASE 575, 626
07 A&G BASE 76
07 HERITAGE BASE 448
07 UPPER DECK BASE 787
07 UD ARTIFACTS BASE 98
08 A&G BASE 208, 384
08 HERITAGE BASE 95
09 BOWMAN BASE 129
09 UPPER DECK BASE 788
SASE

I RECEIVED:
09 A&G BASEBALL HIGHLIGHTS 1, 2, 3, 25
09 A&G CODE: 99, 115
09 A&G CREATURES 14
09 A&G HOAXES 3, 7, 14
09 A&G NATIONAL HEROES 9, 13, 19, 28
09 A&G NATIONAL PRIDE 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 70

Many, many thanks, caroline, for the hugely generous trade! See, guys? THIS is how ya do it!

And, as you can see, after this mega mail day, I’ve been able to put a huge dent into my 09 A&G Project needs list. Thank you very much, girls, for all of your help!

Now, the obligatory update…

NEEDS:
Base: 331

Code: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 52, 62, 63, 67, 69, 70, 73, 77, 84, 91, 94, 100, 103, 106, 110, 113, 118, 121, 122, 123, 127, 129, 131, 134, 135, 138, 141, 147, 150, 154, 159, 166, 167, 169, 170, 174, 175, 179, 180, 182, 184, 187, 191, 193, 196, 198, 200, 204, 206, 207, 210, 215, 217, 221, 222, 223, 229, 230, 233, 236, 242, 245, 254, 256, 261, 262, 267, 268, 271, 274, 275, 281, 283, 286, 288, 293, 296, 300

Baseball Heroes: AGHS12, AGHS13, AGHS14, AGHS15, AGHS16, AGHS19, AGHS24

National Pride: NP25, NP26, NP37, NP38, NP39, NP49, NP50, NP56, NP60, NP61, NP62, NP67, NP69, NP71, NP72, NP73

Creatures Minis: LMT3, LMT4, LMT5, LMT6, LMT7, LMT8, LMT9, LMT10, LMT11, LMT12, LMT15, LMT16, LMT17, LMT18, LMT19, LMT20

Hoaxes Minis: HHB2, HHB9, HHB10, HHB11, HHB13, HHB15, HHB16

National Heroes Minis: NH1, NH2, NH3, NH4, NH5, NH6, NH7, NH8, NH10, NH11, NH12, NH15, NH16, NH20, NH22, NH24, NH25, NH26, NH29, NH30, NH31, NH32, NH33, NH34, NH35, NH36, NH40

Extinct Minis: EA1, EA2, EA3, EA4, EA5

Future Inventions Minis: FI1, FI2, FI3, FI4, FI5

DOUBLES:
Base: 23, 31, 34, 54, 84, 120, 181, 188, 195, 206, 234, 240, 288, 293, 319, 332, 341, 348

National Pride: NP8, NP9, NP10, NP11, NP12, NP14, NP15, NP16, NP17, NP18, NP19, NP20, NP21, NP22

Hoaxes Minis: HHB12

Cards in italics are pending trade.

Anybody ready, willing, and able to lend a helping hand in finishing off this set, either leave a comment here, or shoot me an e-mail at topher {at} designyouridentity {dot} com. Thanks!

Mail Day: 07/30/09

Mail Time, Mail Time, Mail Time, MAIL TIME!!
(…thanks a lot, Blues Clues…)

Here’s the mail, it never fails. It makes me wanna wag my tail. When it comes I wanna wail… MAIL!

Ahem.

Seriously, when I saw the #000 padded mailer in my little mailbox, that was the first thing that came to mind. Why do I know this song? I don’t even have any kids! And I’m not even high! Oh, those college years. They were funny years. But that’s not the real point.

The real, actual, honest-to-goodness point is that I got yet another generous gift from the ladies at A Cardboard Problem. I’m beginning to think that their blog has a crush on my blog. That’s just fine with me so long as it keeps gettin’ me awesome free cardboard goodies.

What was packed tightly within the bubble wrap envelope was one of the most generous single card freebies I’ve ever received. Check this puppy out.

Not too friggin shabby, eh? I’m not sure what the connection between the three on this card is. American League Central Division power hitters, maybe? That would make sense.

Thanks again, Marie and Sooz, for the sweet card and the amazing generosity! Time to check one more off the ol’ want list!

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Project: Week 3 UPDATE

It’s Jared!
(…no rings, no subs, just cards, thank god…)

As I’m writing this at 11:00pm Central, my wife is already in bed falling asleep to the soft subtle sounds of Adult Swim. I’ll take that over DMB’s cover of Stayin’ Alive any day. Or will I?

To the topic at hand… 09 A&G! This all seems eerily familiar, don’t it? The good news? Yeah, it’s a brand new post. Don’t worry. I’m actually going to write different things using different words. Like verisimilitude. Movie reference anyone? Anyone?

Bueller?

So, yeah…

I found a nice stack of mail on the… umm… wait, I got the mail myself this time, didn’t I? Yeah, it was a nice fat yellow bubble mailer stuffed into the mailbox. I let out the closest thing to a "squee" as you could imagine a guy like me could, ran inside and tore open that beautiful manila mailer. It was my trade from jared, member of Pat Neshek’s Message Board. Can you tell that I shop there?

This was a good little trade that knocked out a few cards from the insert sets that I’ve been chasing for Phase 2. That reminds me, I have to figure out what Phase 3 is going to be here pretty soon. Anyhow, this trade with Jared was freaky fast, and all the cards got here as advertised. The packaging job was superb, as well. Jared? You just let me know when I can hook you up with another trade!

I SENT:
09 A&G BASE 2, 98, 168, 179, 203, 205, 213, 270, 278, 287
09 A&G NATIONAL PRIDE 6, 7

I RECEIVED:
09 A&G CODE 185, 227
09 A&G NATIONAL HEROES 17, 39
09 A&G BASEBALL HIGHLIGHTS 4, 6, 7

And now, the updated 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Project List…

NEEDS:
Base: 331

Code: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 52, 62, 63, 67, 69, 70, 73, 77, 84, 91, 94, 99, 100, 103, 106, 110, 113, 115, 118, 121, 122, 123, 127, 129, 131, 134, 135, 138, 141, 147, 148, 150, 154, 159, 166, 167, 169, 170, 174, 175, 179, 180, 182, 184, 187, 191, 193, 196, 198, 200, 204, 206, 207, 210, 215, 217, 221, 222, 223, 229, 230, 233, 236, 242, 245, 254, 256, 261, 262, 267, 268, 271, 274, 275, 281, 283, 286, 288, 293, 296, 300

Baseball Heroes: AGHS1, AGHS2, AGHS3, AGHS12, AGHS13, AGHS14, AGHS15, AGHS16, AGHS19, AGHS24, AGHS25

National Pride: NP25, NP26, NP30, NP31, NP32, NP33, NP34, NP35, NP36, NP37, NP38, NP39, NP42, NP49, NP50, NP51, NP52, NP53, NP54, NP55, NP56, NP57, NP58, NP59, NP60, NP61, NP62, NP63, NP64, NP65, NP66, NP67, NP68, NP69, NP70, NP71, NP72, NP73

Creatures Minis: LMT1, LMT3, LMT4, LMT5, LMT6, LMT7, LMT8, LMT9, LMT10, LMT11, LMT12, LMT14, LMT15, LMT16, LMT17, LMT18, LMT19, LMT20

Hoaxes Minis: HHB2, HHB3, HHB5, HHB7, HHB9, HHB10, HHB11, HHB13, HHB14, HHB15, HHB16, HHB18

National Heroes Minis: NH1, NH2, NH3, NH4, NH5, NH6, NH7, NH8, NH9, NH10, NH11, NH12, NH13, NH14, NH15, NH16, NH18, NH19, NH20, NH22, NH24, NH25, NH26, NH28, NH29, NH30, NH31, NH32, NH33, NH34, NH35, NH36, NH40

Extinct Minis: EA1, EA2, EA3, EA4, EA5

Future Inventions Minis: FI1, FI2, FI3, FI4, FI5

DOUBLES:
Base: 23, 31, 34, 54, 84, 120, 181, 188, 195, 206, 234, 240, 288, 293, 319, 332, 341, 348

National Pride: NP8, NP9, NP10, NP11, NP12, NP14, NP15, NP16, NP17, NP18, NP19, NP20, NP21, NP22

Cards in italics are currently pending trades.

If you’ve got anything I need, just leave a comment or contact me at topher {at} designyouridenity {dot} com. Thanks!

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Time to toot my own horn! No, that does not mean I had a Taco Bell Fourthmeal. Guess who I just found out reads Crackin Wax? None other than 2008 Allen & Ginter code-breaker, Jason Wong! GET OUT!!

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OFF-TOPIC GOODNESS
For those of you living under a pile of rocks, or for those of you like me living INSIDE of a pile of rocks, please let me introduce you to something mildly amusing. Please promise me that you’ll watch these in succession, okay? Promise? Alright. Good.

TTM Race: Mid-Season Edition – 2nd Place

Remember the TTM Race?!
(…you’ll never guess who won second place…)

So, yesterday I made reference to a certain envelope that made its way into my pile of goodies. This certain envelope, as I had stated, made it quite clear what the main portion of the contents were. It was your job then to guess what it was. As it stands, you did not guess. Shame on you. Alas, nonetheless, heretofore, othersnootywords, I’ll give in to my blog temptations and share the big secret.

Obviously, this has to do with a few cards that I had sent out earlier this summer for a little TTM action. Everyone guessed correctly on who would send back first. Not a big surprise there. The player that responded next? Well, he didn’t even get one single vote. NOT ONE! This player’s card was sent to a minor league affiliate where he was pitching at the time. He was recalled back to Minnesota not long ago, so I figured that if I hadn’t received his card back by now, I won’t at all. I mean, he’s here in Minnesota, his card is in New York.

And, who, pray tell, is this mystery man of mystery? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s none other than…

Wow. Totally unexpected. When I saw the envelope, I told my wife that I thought it was going to be Michael Cuddyer. The big surprise in this is that the card was received yesterday and was sent from Rochester, New York on July 24. What’s so weird about that? He was pitching in Los Angeles that day. Hell, he was pitching in Los Angeles the day before that! There must have been a nice pile of letters in the Red Wings outgoing box, and he must have quickly gone through his fan mail just after he got recalled. What a cool surprise!

The surprise, however, kept on getting cooler. When I was slowly opening the TTM envelope in front of my wife, my eyes widened. Instead of a card, I slowly pulled out a small piece of paper, likely taken from the note that I wrote to him…

Woah. Totally floored. This is the first note I’ve ever received from a Major League player and… Mikey liked it!! I wonder if this note means that he would like one for himself, or perhaps an entire stack to hand out to friends, family, and colleagues. Either way, I’m sending one directly to him c/o The Minnesota Twins. Thanks, Jesse!

Flag image provided by GoogleFlags.

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I got yet another package in the mail today. Yay! It was a trade package going towards my Allen & Ginter Project. Yay yay!! I’ll post about that tomorrow night so as not to diminish the utter importance of the trade and, well, my Allen & Ginter Project! I mean, for real. It’s a big deal. That’s how I feel.

Jessical Beil.

Ahem.

That reminds me. I made reference to Dave Matthews Disco last night. I stood corrected earlier tonight. It was my wife blasting Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog. I’m not sure if that makes me feel any better. I mean, at least Matthews is an accomplished and talented musician. Neil Patrick Harris is… Horrible. (boo…)

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Quick blog update. You might notice that I’ve moved some things around over to the right. I’ve added a Release Calendar that I hope will be useful to both you and myself. Seriously, I completely forgot when Upper Deck X was coming out. Now I won’t miss out!

Lastly, I’ve gotta give a little shoutout to Pat Neshek board member, Pistonsfan, who is a loyal reader of The Wax (this wax, not that other much more popular Wax), and runs his own blog called TTM Autographs. Go on and check him out!

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Project: Week 3

One Phat Trade
(…not that it was Pretty Hot And Tempting…)

As I’m writing this at 11:00pm Central, my wife is upstairs blasting what sounds to be disco music sung by Dave Matthews. That can’t be right. And it shouldn’t be right. Come on, hun, it’s far too late to be kung fu fighting at the car wash, okay?

To the topic at hand… 09 A&G! These trades are coming in pretty swiftly, so much so that it’s becoming an interesting little juggling act between proposed trades, active trades, what I have to keep, what I have to trade, and what I need. So far I’ve only accepted the same card in different trades ONCE, so if anyone wants to trade a Creature Mini when I get them both in, let me know!

I found a nice stack of mail on the… umm… is it a coffee table, hun? A tea table? Perhaps a pizza rolls and sunflower seeds table? In any case, two particular envelopes caught my eye immediately. One of those envelopes was a ReadyPost padder filled with a trade that was thrown together within minutes over the weekend. This little bundle comes from Pat Neshek Message Board member, phatnick16.

Ah, yes, a good little chunk of Hoaxes minis, a National Heroes mini, and a Baseball Highlights sketch card that I can now erase from my Want List.

I SENT:
09 A&G BASE 11, 20, 21, 32, 35, 83, 107, 108, 126, 150, 305

I RECEIVED:
09 A&G HOAXES 8, 12, 17, 20
09 A&G NATIONAL HEROES 37
09 A&G BASEBALL HIGHLIGHTS 23

If I’m not mistaken, this is the first completed 09 A&G trade I’ve done on Pat Neshek’s Message Board. As a lot of you know, Pat’s damned cool, as are most of his regular readers, and phatnick fits that bill. Thanks for the awesome trade, man!

That means it’s time to update the old 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Project List…

NEEDS:
Base: 331

Code: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 52, 62, 63, 67, 69, 70, 73, 77, 84, 91, 94, 99, 100, 103, 106, 110, 113, 115, 118, 121, 122, 123, 127, 129, 131, 134, 135, 138, 141, 147, 148, 150, 154, 159, 166, 167, 169, 170, 174, 175, 179, 180, 182, 184, 185, 187, 191, 193, 196, 198, 200, 204, 206, 207, 210, 215, 217, 221, 222, 223, 227, 229, 230, 233, 236, 242, 245, 254, 256, 261, 262, 267, 268, 271, 274, 275, 281, 283, 286, 288, 293, 296, 300

Baseball Heroes: AGHS1, AGHS2, AGHS3, AGHS4, AGHS6, AGHS7, AGHS12, AGHS13, AGHS14, AGHS15, AGHS16, AGHS19, AGHS24, AGHS25

National Pride: NP25, NP26, NP30, NP31, NP32, NP33, NP34, NP35, NP36, NP37, NP38, NP39, NP42, NP49, NP50, NP51, NP52, NP53, NP54, NP55, NP56, NP57, NP58, NP59, NP60, NP61, NP62, NP63, NP64, NP65, NP66, NP67, NP68, NP69, NP70, NP71, NP72, NP73

Creatures Minis: LMT1, LMT3, LMT4, LMT5, LMT6, LMT7, LMT8, LMT9, LMT10, LMT11, LMT12, LMT14, LMT15, LMT16, LMT17, LMT18, LMT19, LMT20

Hoaxes Minis: HHB2, HHB3, HHB5, HHB7, HHB9, HHB10, HHB11, HHB13, HHB14, HHB15, HHB16, HHB18

National Heroes Minis: NH1, NH2, NH3, NH4, NH5, NH6, NH7, NH8, NH9, NH10, NH11, NH12, NH13, NH14, NH15, NH16, NH17, NH18, NH19, NH20, NH22, NH24, NH25, NH26, NH28, NH29, NH30, NH31, NH32, NH33, NH34, NH35, NH36, NH39, NH40

Extinct Minis: EA1, EA2, EA3, EA4, EA5

Future Inventions Minis: FI1, FI2, FI3, FI4, FI5

DOUBLES:
Base: 23, 31, 34, 54, 84, 120, 181, 188, 195, 206, 234, 240, 288, 293, 319, 332, 341, 348

National Pride: NP8, NP9, NP10, NP11, NP12, NP14, NP15, NP16, NP17, NP18, NP19, NP20, NP21, NP22

Cards in italics are currently pending trades.

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The second envelope made it quite obvious what was inside. Who it was from, however, well… that was a mystery. It’s a mystery that, for now, will remain so for you until tomorrow night. Until then, I give you this clue…

Guess what else was in the envelope and who it was from and win a prize!*

*There is no prize. Neener.