Mail Day!

My collecting habits have slowed exponentially lately. I have focused myself to two player collections - Luke Jackson and Matt Harrison - and set building, and even that has slowed. (Damn you Topps for making crappy sets this year!)

However, I did pick up a couple cards that I can share with you. First up, for the Harrison PC:

The 2014 camo parallel. This one is numbered 66 of 99. Expect to see more of Harry on this blog soon, I may have went on a buying spree of cards priced at 99 cents or less.

The second card for show and tell this afternoon is this:

The Luke Jackson 2011 Heritage black border. I didn't know it when I bought it, but this guy is numbered 53 of 62.

That's it for now. Like I said, more is on the way. Just gonna take a few days to get here.

I hope everyone is well!

Quick Interview With A Super Bowl Champ And Pro Bowler

I'm a pretty lucky guy. My family is pretty well-known in this small part of the world. My grandfather probably knows everyone who has lived int he surrounding counties over the last 70+ years. This has afforded me the opportunity to meet some former football players on the golf course.

The first former player I got to play golf with was Jerry Logan, or, as my grandfather knows him by, "Jerry Don." 

Logan was a defensive back on some of the best teams in NFL history, the Baltimore Colts of the 1960s. He was on the Colts team that lost to Joe Namath in the 1969 Super Bowl (III), but he was also on the Colts team that beat the beloved Cowboys in Super Bowl V two years later. He played in three Pro Bowls (1965, 1970, 1971) and, as a career highlight, intercepted Namath three times in the same game during the 1970 season. 

I was a kid when I first met Jerry, maybe 7 or 8 years old. He signed my scorecard for me, but I didn't realize who he really was back then. recently, he had been by to visit my grandfather, who suggested I send him a note (and a football to sign). I did, and here is the responses to the questions I asked.

You were drafted by the Colts and the Raiders. Was there any debate about which team and league you were going to join? I always wanted to go to the Colts. They were the best team in the best league at the time.

What was it like arriving at an NFL camp for the first time? Very exciting...and very frightening at the same time.

How did it feel intercepting Joe Namath three time in that 1970 game? Very rewarding since I missed one in Super Bowl III.

What was it like playing the Super Bowl against a team that - I'm assuming - many of your friends back home in Texas were a fan of? I had a lot of support from home for me, but a lot of them wanted the Cowboys to win!

I'm sorry to ask the question I'm sure you've heard a million times - what's it  like winning a Super Bowl? After losing Super Bowl III, it was just a feeling of relief that we had finally won one.

Do you still wear your ring? Occasionally, for special events.

What was it like to get your first football card? Surprised.

I read that you still have some memorabilia from your playing days. What's your favorite piece(s) and why? 5 footballs for player of the game.

Any advice for autograph and memorabilia collectors who request autographs through the mail like this? Send a post-addressed envelope or package and I will sign and return!

So there you go! A few quick questions for a Super Bowl champ and Pro Bowler! If you are interested in sending Jerry something, let me know and I will get you his address (if you can't find it online). If you do send him a note, I look forward to seeing his responses to you! 

The Best Pull I've Ever Had Just Came Out Of A $5 Hanger Pack

If you remember, I've had pretty decent luck with retail packs from Walmart. Hanger boxes yielded me some pretty nice hits.

I decided to try my luck again. Yesterday was my birthday. I was feeling pretty bummed  because my great grandmother passed away Sunday night. (She was 101 and lived a wonderfully full life - but a family member's passing is always tough). I decided to buy some cardboard from Wally World in hopes of something to cheer me up.

My Walmart hasn't put out any new cards since 2014 S2 came out, so I bought two hanger packs. In the first one was this:

A Trajectory relic numbered to 99! I already pulled the base version of this card, so it was nice to get the numbered version.

But that isn't my best pull ever.

Pulling that card convinced me to go back and grab a couple more hanger packs. So affter lunch, I did just that. I walked out of Walmart with four of these packs (a couple couples).

In the third pack was this monster:

2014 Topps Series 2 Breakout Moments Tony Gwynn auto relic numbered three of freakin' five!!!!

WHAT?!?!?!?!

I think that the cardboard gods favor me with retail since the closest LCS is almost two hours away. I really have no other explanation of my luck there. But this is by far and away my best pull EVER.

My first thought was Marcus of all the way to the backstop and Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown. I know those guys are bug Gwynn fans. And honestly, a card like this deserves to be in their hands. Unfortunately, my seemingly neverending quest to complete my Luke Jackson Rainbow requires some substantial cash for the remaining cards, cash I would never have in my pocket. So this card is hopefully going to help with that.

I pulled this card more than three hours ago and I'm still shaking. I can't believe I'm this damn lucky with retail.

Luck, Be A Lady

In case you missed my tweet....

Just grabbed lunch at Sevvy's in Dllas, got to meet Roger Staubach. Great freakin' day!
— My Cardboard Habit (@cardboardhabit) November 4, 2014

...and my sh*tty spelling, apparently, I was fortunate enough to get to meet Roger Staubach Tuesday morning. I was having lunch at Sevvy's in Dallas (If you live in the DFW area, do yourself a favor and eat there at least once. You won't regret it!). Sitting at the bar so I don't waste an entire table on just myself, I see him walk up and stand next to me.

He must have noticed the dumb look on my face because he chuckled and introduced himself. I shook his hand, introduced myself, and that was it. I didn't ask for an autograph because I didn't want to be "that guy." 

Now I know how AJ felt when passing his idol in the street. Staubach is one of my favorite Cowboys of all time, so it was very cool just to get to shake his hand.

How does all of this relate to cards? Well, chill out and I will tell you.

After meeting Roger, I was feeling kind of lucky. I decided to make a quick pit stop at Duane's on my way back to my office and grab some cards. I ended up with two Jumbo packs of Update and six packs of Heritage Minors. 

I decided to open the Heritage first. In the first pack, third card:

Nice! Only a base card, but it's a card I didn't have for the Jackson PC. And the very next card...

The black parallel numbered to 105! Unfortunately, I already bought this card off eBay (I mean, seriously: what are the odds of me pulling this card as a Jackson collector???) but who cares? I'll happily have two of them in there!

The remaining five packs yielded mostly nothing except two short prints, but no variations. I did pull another black border...

...and it has already been added to the Hits For Trade page. I don't know if I should really consider it a hit, but it fits there better than the base trade bait page.

Moving on to the Jumbo Update. Each Jumbo box promises two relics and an auto. Well, in the first pack, I pulled a manufactured relic:

The Sandy Koufax World Series ring relic. I'm not very fond of these. You can't just throw a piece of metal in a card and call it a "relic." It has never been used in a game by the player featured, so it doesn't count. Just another instance of Topps abusing their power, if you ask me. Anyway, this is also listed int he Hits For Trade section (adding more stuff for you, Dodger Penguin!)

The second pack yielded me this:

The Jacob deGrom Trajectory auto! This is one of the better autos features in the set! Now, I have no plans to keep it. Pitchers have a way of being good one year and not so good the next, so I have it listed on eBay right now. If it doesn't sell, I might consider trading it.

Last thing. I haven't said anything, really, about the unfortunate passing of Oscar Taveras. I'm not a Cardinals fan and I think it goes without saying that whenever someone that young passes, it's always terribly sad. 

However, I took a look at his Update card...and it really couldn't be more fitting:

I don't know if Topps will have anything in next year's sets for Taveras, but this is just a splendid card to be his (first and) final flagship card. 

Sometimes, cardboard is the perfect tribute.

Mailday!!! (And Craigslist is Creepy)

Well, to be more specific, this is an accumulation from three different maildays. I didn't want to post one card each day, so I decided to just wait and post a few at once.

First up, I was able to grab this card for less than a buck:

It's the 2012 Topps Update All star Stitches relic for Matt Harrison. This one is unnumbered, and I haven't yet seen the gold sparkle parallel (numbered to 50).

Here's the 2014 Topps Factory Orange Parallel, numbered to 199. I snagged it for less than three dollars.

Lastly, this 2008 Bowman Chrome Xfractor auto. I got it for a whopping $5.99.

So, the total for all three cards is right at $10. Not bad when one of the cards is an auto numbered to 250 and it's graded. All three are welcome additions to the Harry PC.

Today has been slow. Everyone is coming down off an election high and the phones have been quiet. I decided to browse Craigslist. After getting my kicks looking at the personals, I started looking at collectibles. One seller had some Ranger memorabilia for sale, so I sent a note asking for a price on the items. Here was the response I received:

Um, I all for gun rights and I'm very pro-gun....but this just gave me the creeps. You want me to rade you guns for baseball memorabilia??? Yeah, not happening.

Craigslist just feels like a dark alleyway....

A New Post...Say What?

I feel like my posting has slowed to a trickle in recent weeks. Every time I sit down to write one, I feel like I'm always beginning with "I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while..." Well, no apologies this time. I'm a jerk like that, you know.

Anyway, I got a new card to add to the growing Luke Jackson PC today. Check, check it out:

The cyan plate from 2014 Heritage Minors! It was reasonably priced, so I snatched it up. I feel like the best time to buy cards is during the offseason...prices always seem to plummet. And though I miss baseball, I am completely okay with paying half what the card would cost during the season.

This is the sixth Jackson 1/1 I've added to my collection. I'm hopimng he makes the Rangers roster out of Spring training so that he has some cards in the flagship set next year (Series 2 I would assume). Think of all the pretty colors I would be able to chase!

It's Gonna Get Ugly: My Thoughts on 2014 Topps Update

You ever feel that Topps really doesn't give a crap about how you feel about their cards? Who am I kidding? Everyone feels that way because it's true. Never has it been more evident than it is in 2014 Update.

You can tell that they don't care because of simple errors that they didn't take the time to correct. "What kind of errors?" I'm glad you asked. Let me share with you.

First and foremost, let's take a look at card number 117:

Oh, that's right; there are two card number 117's. Bryan Holaday and John Lackey share the card number. How is this possible? How could this happen?

Oh wait - it happened twice! Feast your eyes on cards numbered 164: Josh Tomlin and Joe Kelly! Seriously, what the hell happened? Was Topps too busy giving sh*tty customer service to address this issue? What makes this even better is that there are two card numbers that are skipped in the set! There is no card number 21 or card number 311! This problem could have easily been fixed!!!

That's not all they screwed up, either. Notice the card numbering location and format in the card below:

That's the location and format of the majority of card numbers in the set.

There are many cards with a format like this with the number below the "US" designation.

But in case that wasn't annoying enough, let's just go ahead and move the location of the number altogether.

This is bush league garbage. Had I made mistakes like this in any of my graphic design courses in college, I would have received a failing grade. However, knowing that they have cornered the set building market, Topps decided that we, the consumers, don't matter that much and decided not to fix their problems.

This set sucks.