Mail Day!

Mail has been a little slow this week, mostly because I have stayed away from eBay. There have been a few packages, however, so let's take a look.

Building on yesterday's post, I snagged this Joey Gallo relic to add to my Gallo PC. I don't know why, I just love these damn things. And even though they are ugly as sin, I love the red-framed mini relics, also.

This year, Gypsy Queen included relic parallels, much like the auto parallels they have done the past couple years. I grabbed one...

...of Joey Gallo. C'mon, what did you expect? This one is a gold parallel, numbered 30 of 50.

I was in the bidding for another Gallo relic, numbered to 5. Unfortunately, I had a long day and dozed off at home and missed the end of the auction. The card sold for $21.

I also received a package from Topps this week. At first glance, I wasn't terribly pleased, and I vented on Twitter:

The view of my Topps NOW package I received today. I guess someone decided it looked like fun to step on. pic.twitter.com/pviMVCmesB

— My Cardboard Habit (@cardboardhabit) April 27, 2016

I mean, could the person care any less? That's absolutely ridiculous.

To make matters worse, I found the card like this when I opened the package:

In a flimsy semi-rigid sleeve and n top loader. Fortunately, the card wasn't damaged. Is it to much to ask that the card be sent in a penny sleeve and rigid top loader? I mean, at most, that adds an additional 20 cents to the production cost.

Anyway, this is the Topps NOW! card featuring Ranger rookie sensation Nomar Mazara.

It's a high-gloss card, and I really like the design, I think it is very nice. However, I do have a question: collectors often discuss the importance of a "true" rookie card. My question is this, then: is this to be considered his true rookie card? No doubt there will be a Mazara rookie in Series 2 or Update, but this has to be the true rookie, right? I hope so.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Sorry for complaining, I just needed to vent. I hope everyone is well!

I Finally Broke Down And Bought Some Gypsy Queen

Since I got back into collecting, Gypsy Queen has been one of my favorite sets to collect. As a matter of fact, 2013 GQ is my favorite set to this day.

Sadly, I've avoided it this year. I know I want to build the set, but spending $120 on a box just isn't going to happen right now. I'm too poor.

However, while visiting my LCS today to pick up some supplies, I decided to buy a couple packs. In the second pack, I found this guy:

A Puig relic featuring a piece of a bat! I'm a big fan of relics that use something other than a plain white swatch. So, I buy two packs and grab one of the four guaranteed hits. Not bad!

After going to dinner with friends, I had to swing by Target to grab a few things. The rush of pulling a relic overtook my senses and I decided to grab a blaster.

I waited until I got home to open it. Things weren't looking great, but then I found this:

A purple mini of Rougned Odor! Rarely do I pull parallels of guys I am collecting, but this time it was different!

There was something lurking immediately behind the Odor mini...

A Trout relic! Granted, it's the plain white swatch I literally just bemoaned, but I've never puled any kind of Trout relic. It's pretty cool to mark that off my list now!

All in all, not a bad day for me and Gypsy Queen!

Finding Treasure While Organizing

Since Christmas, I have been working on getting my collection - specifically, my trade bait - organized. Whenever I have 30 minutes to an hour to relax, I turn on the TV and pull out some cardboard that needs to be sorted, collated and listed on the blog.

A couple days ago, I found some 2014 Heritage Minors that needed the treatment. So, I turned on the Ranger game, grabbed my BCW sorting tray and went to work. After getting everything collated, I began to enter the card numbers into my trade bait page. 

Then I made a discovery...a short print that I had somehow missed:

This is the Joc Pederson photo variation! If only I had known about this card last year, I could have made a nice chunk of change....

Obviously, Pederson has cooled off from his hot start last year, but I still thought it was cool to find this in my collection.

As of now, I think I plan on holding on to it. It pairs well with a Pederson auto I puled from Tek last year (maybe I should post about that....). However, if you have a similar Rangers card that you think may interest me, let me know! 

What's the best card you've found in your collection that you didn't know you had?

And So It Continues.....

"Lately, I have found myself getting back into my first true childhood hobby – baseball card collecting. It’s becoming a habit, purchasing packs every time I go to the store, searching ebay for cards I’m missing and rare hits…I’ve got the fever."

Thus began My Cardboard Habit. That was three years ago today. The blog was hosted on Wordpress (the blog was originally named The Cardboard Habit and I changed it to My Cardboard Habit)...then I moved it to Blogspot so that I was on the same platform as all of the other amazing blogs that inspired me to begin writing.

It's funny - I was so excited to begin blogging, but I couldn't decide on a name. MCH popped into my head, but I hated it...but I was too anxious to put out my first post so I went with it. It has since grown on me, and I am glad I kept the name.

I honestly never thought I would still be collecting three years later. I thought that I would start the blog, write a few posts, then I would get tired of buying cards. Part of that is true, but most of it isn't. I have certainly grown out of the manner in which I used to collect. By that, I mean I no longer try to buy everything. I was nuts to think that I would put together every set as quickly as Topps releases them.

Now, I have focused my collection down to a few players and Ranger team sets. I have neither the money nor the time to attempt to get every single card that Topps produces. 

I thought this blog would be a "depository" of baseball card knowledge...nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly, I don't have the talent to put together posts like Night Owl or Baseball Card Breakdown. Nor do I have the incredible collection to feature like The Junior Junkie. Nor do I have the time to share amazing stories like foul bunt.

There are other bloggers that have influenced me along the way. I've developed great trading relationships with The Lost Collector, Play at the Plate and Dodger Penguin; they are all guys that I am thankful for crossing paths with (along with everyone else, please don't hate me for not naming everyone individually!).

Three years. That's a long time. I have gone from an incredibly well-paying job to graduate school (which pays next to nothing). I've lost a good friend and LCS owner. My father has been diagnosed with cancer. I've earned a few awards for my research. I've reconnected with old friends and made a ton of new friends. All in all, it has been a crazy three years.

But that's enough rambling and reminiscing. No one like that nonsense, especially from someone as insignificant as me. I get that, and I'm okay with it. 

But there is one thing I want you to know.

I am eternally grateful that you read this blog and share this ride with me.

Thank you.

Mail Day!

Well, more like mail week. This week has been kicking my ass. It's that time of the semester when papers are being wrapped up for conferences and classes. On top of that, my debit card number was stolen, so I am waiting to receive a new one. I rarely use cash, so this has been an...interesting...experience, to say the least.

Anyway, here are my acquisitions for the week.

I sent this card to Jeremy Guthrie while he was still in camp with the Rangers. Sadly, he was released when AJ Griffin was declared the 5th starter. I'm very happy to get this one.

This comes from 1997 Score. It's an Artist's Proof card...which actually doen't mean a whole heck of a lot. Either way, the card is beautiful.

This card of Anthony Ranaudo is from the 2014 Bowman Top 5 mini set. It's a black refractor, numbered 10 of 15.

There they are - this week's additions. I hope everyone is well!

P-Town Prizes!!!

P-Town Tom recently acquired quite a few cards in an estate sale. As such, he's having a contest! Go here to enter!

More For The Matty H PC

As I mentioned, I've begun to add non-Topps cards to my Matt Harrison PC. I have a couple more to share with you today. As has been the norm recently, the post will be short as I am in a bit of a rush. So let's take a look!

This comes from the Just Rookies line of cards...very basic, but a cheap auto. I paid less than $3 for it.

This is a diecut from the Donruss Elite Extra Edition. I actually really like these.

That's it for now. I swear, I will have time to put together a longer, more meaningful post in the near future!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Finally Striking Gold

I've been back in the card-collecting world now for almost four years. I've learned a lot of things, but the one thing I learned that I hold to be true is that this is a crazy hobby and you never know what you will find.

Since I began my Matt Harrison player collection, I've been trying to find his 2003 Bowman cards. These were some of his first, and with the gold refractor having only 50 copies, I assumed my chances of finding one were about the same as a snowball's chance in hell. 

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I check my eBay searches and see that one has popped up for an opening bid of $10. That's a bit more than I want to pay, but I know that this is the first time I have seen the card in the near-four years I've been back. So I watch the card with the intention of bidding in the last minute.

Terrible idea.

A week later, I remember the card and look in eBay, only to see that I missed the card...

I feel sick.

However, later that day, I get a message from my local LCS owner. The subject? "Hey, you need this?" The photo accompanying it was none other than a gold refractor from 2003 Bowman Draft gold refractor.

He just happened to find the card while remodeling his shop. How freaking lucky am I? What makes it even better is the price I paid - much more in line with what I was wanting to pay.

So there it is - karma is kind to me. 

And this card is an absolute beauty, if I do say so myself.

Well, The Time Has Finally Come....

...To add a few unlicensed cards to my collection.

You see what I did there? I created a headline that made you think perhaps that I was giving up the blogging thing. You're probably saying, "D*ck move, man!" And I can't deny that. I created the title solely to get you to read. I am a terrible person. I have to live with that.

However, let's get back to the point of this post. I've been wanting new Matt Harrison cards to my PC, but it's getting more difficult. In order to make it easier, I decided to add his non-Topps cards to the collection. Let's take a look at what I've got so far:

While you read this, it's Saturday afternoon. As I'm writing it, it's 3 am Saturday morning and I have to be up in 4 hours to go work on some data analysis. Because of that, I'm not going to spend the time to go label all of these. I'm a bum, I know.

So go check out my Harrison PC and see if you have any of the cards I need. Which are the cards I need? The ones that don't have a hyperlink. I appreciate it!!!

A Quick Post Before I Head To The Office

Brief post today. I am swamped at school and have a lot on the to-do list, so I am heading in early.

I grabbed this guy for around $8, delivered. 

I have been watching this Hanley Ramirez auto from the 2010 T206 American Caramel mini auto set for more than a year. The seller was initially asking $25. I kept waiting....and waiting....and waiting....

Finally, the seller listed it for $3.99. One other person bid on the card, hence the reason it cost a bit more than the original price.

This is the second auto I've added to my 2010 T206 American Caramel set this year.