Mega Mail Day: Part II

I Wanted To Share One Per Day
(…but it’s turning into one per week)

So, I’ve come to two very obvious conclusions about this blog and my current posting habits. Firstly, I’ve become WAY too busy to keep up with even the smallest most inane posts. I swear, this house is like having a child (not that I would know, but that’s how I would equate it–I mean, I seriously feel like I changed the house’s diaper last night). Secondly, all my posts have turned into lately are solely blaster reviews, mail day write-ups, and selfish shilling for more Allen & Ginter cards. I probably won’t stop giving those with whom I’ve traded their due props, and it’s highly unlikely that I’ll discontinue my hunt for more Ginter, and this blog would hardly serve its purpose without my own personal twist on card reviews. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if there was something more, oh, say, INTERESTING to read about here? That’s why I’ve come up with my personal promise to not only you, my fantibulous readers, but also to myself. If by the end of the year this blog is still as stale as last year’s wide open bag o’ Lays, I will gladly pull the plug. Let’s face it, there are TONS of baseball card related blogs out there the way it is. Who am I to think that anyone wants to hear what I say about this particular subject? Now, would people want to hear what my cats have to say about the hobby? I’d have to say, I would personally be interested. Of course, they aren’t allowed anywhere near my cards what with the odor and claw issues.

So, in keeping with not boring you fine folks to death week after week, I’m going to do what I shoulda did in the first place. I’m going to consolidate my Mega Mail Day into one post. I know, Betsy got her own post, so it’s not entirely fair to everyone else. For that I am sorry. Yay for Betsy though, yeah? Yay!!

PACKAGE #2

Things have been getting a bit more desperate here at Crackin Wax as far as the Allen & Ginter Project is concerned. I’ve had to start relying on eBay to tackle some of my wants and needs. This package is actually from four different auctions by the same seller. I didn’t spend more then a couple of bucks and ended up with these beauties.

These came from eBay seller ramden. The items were shipped securely and quickly, and at a reasonable rate. No doubt about it, positive feedback was left. I should do a little bit of research on this, but I wonder who the artists are who came up with the paintings/drawings used for these cards. Are they stock artwork, or did Topps hire some talented helping hands whose names do not end in Kong or Perez?

PACKAGE #3

Next up is yet another trade package from Chris over at Nachos Grande. While this trade wasn’t as hugegantic as those he and I have made in the past, this one was still very helpful indeed.

This gets me down to just TWO MORE National Pride cards left to finish that subset. I’m getting that real sense of wasted accomplishment now. Wasted because putting sets of cards together isn’t really contributing to anything but my own selfish and lame hobby habit, and accomplishment because I’ve never tackled a set before. And, really, what would a set be without yet another Yankee card? At least DJ is at the forefront instead of A-Fraud.

Oh! Annnnnd I got a bonus card from Chris, too!

I gotta be honest with ya. I’m not entirely sure what the significance of this bonus card is/was other than it was a freebie not included with the original trade deal. Is it a 1/1? A 1/10? A 1/100? A one-in-a-million? In any case, it was awful nice, pardner. Thanks!

PACKAGE #4

Yet another non-traded semi-surprise package from one or more of the girls at A Cardboard Problem (although I truly suspect it was all Marie). We’ve just been sorta tossing cards back and forth to each other without worrying about setting up any real trades. It’s kind of fun that way not always knowing what you’ll be getting.

Well, that certainly is a very green way to save some cash! And that bubble mailer? I can totally guess who, who, whose envelope that used to be!

I can always count on the ladies to tackle some items off of my Twins Want List. Plus, I got a Gomez A&G Back Mini as a surprise! Yay! Thank you so much, Marie (and even Sooz)!

PACKAGE #5

This last and very final package kinda cracks me up. It’s a big ol’ giant box from Nate over at Legal Arcade. It cracks me up because only six cards were sent in this mammoth box. It’s like that birthday gift you KNOW you’ve given someone at least once in your life.

And with this kindly National Pride card, I am now officially down to just ONE National Pride card needed to finish that set! Hooray!

Five more Code Cards to strike off of my list. This parallel set has been a bit tricky to track down. I’ve got a ways to go before this one gets finished up.

And, hey. What would a trade be without some needed Twins cards? One more card off of the ‘09 Upper Deck list, and that Nathan is my first 09 Topps Chrome Twins card of the year. Look at the torque on Nathan’s arm in that photo. That must have been one nasty breaking ball. Hopefully he didn’t give up back-to-back home runs in that photo session like he did last night. Thanks for the trade, Nate!

I suppose this means that I’d better update my…

2009 ALLEN & GINTER PROJECT LIST UPDATE

NEEDS:
Code: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 52, 62, 63, 73, 77, 94, 100, 103, 110, 118, 127, 129, 131, 134, 138, 141, 147, 150, 159, 166, 170, 175, 179, 180, 182, 184, 187, 196, 198, 200, 204, 206, 207, 210, 215, 217, 222, 223, 229, 230, 233, 236, 245, 254, 271, 274, 275, 281, 283, 286, 293, 296, 300

Baseball Heroes: AGHS14, AGHS15, AGHS16, AGHS19

National Pride: NP60

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

Hoaxes Minis: HHB10, HHB13, HHB15

National Heroes Minis: NH4, NH5, NH7, NH8, NH11, NH12, NH16, NH20, NH24, NH25, NH26, NH29, NH30, NH33, NH34, NH35, NH36, NH40

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

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

DOUBLES:
Base: 23, 34, 54, 84, 120, 188, 195, 206, 234, 240, 288

National Pride: NP8, NP11, NP12, NP14, NP15, NP16, NP17, NP18, NP19, NP20, NP21, NP73

Hoaxes Minis: HHB5

National Heroes Minis: NH21, NH23, NH38

Cards in italics are pending current trades/purchases

If any of you would like to help out in finishing my ‘09 A&G set, please send me a line here, or you can always get in touch with me at topher {at} designyouridentity {dot} com.

THANK YOU!

Mega Mail Day: Part I

Sometimes I Love Saturdays
(…that’s right, I got these nearly one week ago. Deal.)

Seriously, this week has been hectic, and, dare I say, a touch crummy. I don’t just throw the word "crummy" around, either, so you KNOW it’s serious business. The best laid plans included one post per day each day this week. I was lucky to get even one done. Thankfully, I am afforded ample time to complete at least one more post for this week.

As I type this, there is a strange man upstairs attaching our new blinds to our freshly installed windows and freshly painted interior window frames. I can’t believe we’ve gone this entire time without blinds on our windows. Walking around the house au natural has indeed come at a premium. Well, and at a "heavy" price for the neighbors. Later in the day, another kindly gentleman will peruse the exterior portion of this once-foreclosed domicile in order to put in a bid to paint everything but the lawn. Basically.

Two hours of sleep the night before, waking up at 6:30am, then working from 11:30am straight until 10:00pm without break, then having to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn this morning sure has made me loopy. At least I’m only working a half-day today. Albeit the shift doesn’t start until 4:00pm and I’m sure to be there until between 10:00pm and 11:00pm, it certainly could be a heck of a lot worse.

Now that the incessant whining portion of the post has concluded, let’s move onto the happiness. Baseball cards! Yay!

This first post will be dedicated to reader, Betsy, who was in a great mood and was looking to clear out a little bit of personal inventory. That lead to my favorite: FREE CARDS!! She told me that no trade was necessary. Of course, I will be on the lookout for some basketball cards, worry you not!

She kindly sent along a couple of Crack the Code cards as well as a Hoaxes mini that I needed to get me just that much closer to seeing the end of this long Allen & Ginter Project journey.

Thank you very much, Betsy! I still have some digging around to do, but I’m pretty sure I still have those old B-Ball cards. They are definitely and without a doubt all yours once I find them!

2009 ALLEN & GINTER PROJECT LIST UPDATE

NEEDS:
Code: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 52, 62, 63, 73, 77, 94, 100, 103, 110, 118, 127, 129, 131, 134, 138, 141, 147, 150, 159, 166, 170, 175, 179, 180, 182, 184, 187, 196, 198, 200, 204, 206, 207, 210, 215, 217, 222, 223, 229, 230, 233, 236, 245, 254, 271, 274, 275, 281, 283, 286, 293, 296, 300

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

National Pride: NP60

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

Hoaxes Minis: HHB10, HHB13, HHB15

National Heroes Minis: NH1, NH3, NH4, NH5, NH6, NH7, NH8, NH10, NH11, NH12, NH15, NH16, NH20, 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, 34, 54, 84, 120, 188, 195, 206, 234, 240, 288

National Pride: NP8, NP11, NP12, NP14, NP15, NP16, NP17, NP18, NP19, NP20, NP21, NP73

Hoaxes Minis: HHB5

Cards in italics are pending current trades/purchases

If any of you would like to help out in finishing my ‘09 A&G set, please give me a holler here, or if you like privacy, fire away a nice and sexy e-mail to me over at topher {at} designyouridentity {dot} com.

THANK YOU!

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!

Mail Days: 07/07/09

Not Many Things are Better Than a Mail Day
(…unless the packages were delivered by Cliff Claven…)

I know. I’m a slacker. I’ve gotten plenty of packages this year and haven’t said word one about a lot of them. This week is THE week of mail as far as me and baseball cards are concerned. I know I’ve got some trade and/or care packages coming in from some of you, some eBay stuff, and my two boxes of ‘09 Allen & Ginter. While I’m not-so-patiently awaiting my goodies, I’d like to just quickly show off some of the most recent loot I scored.

First up are a handful of extra O-Pee-Chee Twins cards that Amy over at Project Phillies just happened to have laying around. All it cost me was a handful of extra O-Pee-Chee Phillies cards that I just happened to have laying around. Pretty awesome trade if you ask me!

Next up was a sort-of surprise package from Greg over at Night Owl Cards. It was a sort-of surprise because he told me he was going to send me some Twins, but I had forgotten all about it. When I got the little yellow bubbler in the mail with his name on it… SURPRISE! He loaded that mailer with a good stack of Twins, including this sweet mess of classic cards that I didn’t have yet. I’m gonna have to get to work on that ‘74 set now.

Mike over at JD’s Wild Cardz just can’t help but send me Twins cards whenever he can, and I’m not about to stop him! Recently he sent me this very generous gem. Needless to say, I was geeked as can be. Notice that the Mauer swatch has the all important stripe? Geeked as can be? Super-duper geeked, son.

Thank you to everyone who has generously donated Twins cards to my selfish collecting cause. I can’t guarantee that I’ll remember to write about received packages in the future, but you can rest assured that I’ll appreciate every single Twins card that comes my way. Thank you!