My Cardboard Habit: September 2014

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Luke Jackson PC

HYPERLINK represent cards in my collection; Cards without hyperlinks are cards I need.

2014

Monday, September 29, 2014

The Luke Jackson Pursuit Expands Into A PC

A few weeks ago, Bru of Remember the Astrodome fame, contacted me about trading for a Delino DeShields printing plate I pulled from '14 Bowman Platinum. We worked something out - I was a bit picky with what I wanted in return, but Bru was more than accommodating - and just like that, my Luke Jackson pursuit morphed from a rainbow collection to an all-out player collection.

This is the card that I received in return:

A 2014 Bowman Inception Luke Jackson base auto. It's a beautiful card. And guess what? Inception has parallels. And you know how I feel about parallels. So I went to eBay and added a couple more parallels:

The pink and blue parallels, numbered to 50 and 75, respectively. Sadly, that wasn't enough. I visted COMC and came away with a few more cards:

There's a variety of stuff there. Multiple years of Topps Heritage Minors (including a red tint parallel, some die-cuts from 2013 Bowman Draft, and even some 2011 Bowman Chrome.

I even ventured back to eBay to buy a card that I had never seen before:

A 2013 Carolina League All Star card, produced by Grandstand Cards. Never heard of them before, but the card was a buck. Deal.

So, there it is. Thanks to Bru, my simple OCD has turned into a serious problem. Well, not a problem. Cardboard is never a problem. But my Habit is definitely getting worse!

Saturday, September 27, 2014

I've Been Away For A While

The title says it pretty well. I've been gone. There's been a lot of stuff going on in my life. On Sunday, I found out that the girlfriend, Jenn, of my best friend and old roommate had passed away from brain cancer. The next day, I learned that the woman who helped guide me back to Christ, Mosa, had passed away after routine back surgery. On Wednesday I drove up to Omaha for Jenn. The rosary was that night and the funeral and mass was Thursday. I drove back yesterday and got in late. My plan was to get up this morning and go to Mosa's funeral.

And that's where I am ashamed of myself. I woke up this morning and tried to get ready. However, I became overwhelmed with emotion and sadness thinking of Mosa. I began bawling like a baby. I couldn't make myself go to the funeral because I couldn't fathom seeing her for the last time. I don't know what I am going to say to her husband, Bob.

Anyway, enough of my pity party. A while back, I read an article on Sports Collector about Omaha Sports Cards, so I decided to drop in yesterday before I left town. The plan was to grab a box of 2014 Bowman Chrome, but his shipment hadn't arrived. So I bought a few packs of 2014 Heritage Minors.

I came away with a couple parallels and an auto.

Oddly, both of the black parallels are numbered 95 of 105. I wonder if all boxes are like that?

Anyway, all three cards are for trade, preferably for some Rangers from the same set. However, I'll consider any offers that are made. I hope everyone has been well in my absence!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Some Vintage Paper

I'm actually busy at work, but this deserves a post. My boss often goes to estate sales and antique shops on the weekend, and this occasionally results in random baseball-related gifts to me (he once paid $80 for four binders full of 89-90 Donruss. Painful.).

This time, however, he placed this on my desk:

Hmm. A book. A vintage book, "vintage" in this case meaning pre-1980. I love collecting old books. Wonder what this one is about.

"Grand Slam. Sweet! A baseball book! Those author names look familiar...

SWEET!!!

Each guy has his own section! Bet you didn't know Mickey Mantle was an established writer, did you?

Anyway, back to work. Just wanted to share!

Surprise, Surprise: More Jackson Color

My collecting has slowed over the past month or two. None of the products has gained my interest, so I haven't been buying much. 2014 Bowman Chrome is supposed to street next week, I think, so that will be nice, even though there isn't much in the way of Rangers in the offering.

Speaking of which, a checklist has been provided by Bowman. Check it out, then go here and sign up for my case break! Don't forget - there will be AT LEAST 40 autos in a case, along with refractors and possibly printing plates! If I don't have the remaining spots filled by the street date, I think I am going to ax it all together. $80 gets you a team of your choosing AND a randomly assigned team. You can't beat that!

Anyway, back to the subject matter. The few cards I have purchased have been almost exclusively of this guy:

One Mr. Luke Jackson. More specifically, 2014 Bowman Luke Jackson. This is the base refractor.

And this is the silver ice parallel. Both very basic cards. I'm a little surprised that it took me this long to add these to the rainbow. All that matters is that they are here. And My pursuit of completion continues, but the end draws nigh.

Friday, September 12, 2014

2014 Bowman Chrome Checklist FINALLY Released!!!

You can see who's on the checklist by clicking this link:

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/239575531

Check it out, pick out a team, and sign up over on the right (click the link and sign up there)!

$80 gets you a team of your choosing AND a randomly assigned team FROM AN ENTIRE CASE!!!

So go sign up!

Monday, September 8, 2014

Massive Additions to the Luke Jackson Rainbow

My parents went to Vegas for vacation recently. Not trusting my dad (haha), I asked my mom to take $100 and play it for me to see if she could win me some money. Well, she actually did win me some money. So I decided to invest it in my cardboard needs.

The same day they left town, I saw a seller list two cards that I needed. I swooped in at the last moment and got a lot of orange:

I was able to snag this orange auto and its uninked brother:

I paid roughly $56 shipped for both of them. Not bad, but still a little pricey. However the next card I got was an absolute steal:

You may remember a few months ago that I was selling some of my cards in an attempt to raise enough funds to buy this card. You may also remember that I posted how the seller was being shady by having a shadow bidder try to run up the price.

Well, that auction ended at more than $200 and it looked like someone won it. A few weeks went by and it popped back up on eBay, being sold by the same person. Evidently, the shadow buyer bid too much and the kid didn't sell the card.

This time, he set the auction price beginning at $9.99. I bid on it first, but was outbid. I decided to wait and try to snipe it at the end. The bidding reached $26 and then stalled. With a day and a half to go in the auction, the seller cancelled the auction.

Knowing the guy was shady, I sent him an email through eBay to ask if he sold it or what the deal was. He let me know that he still had it but had an offer of $130 on the table, to which I replied, "That's good. You better take it, because the last one of these had a raw Beckett grade of 9/10 and sold for $92." He quickly responded asking if I was interested in the card for a bit over $100. I told him that I had just bought a 1/1 auto'd plate for Far less than that and that I didn't really need his card.

He came back at me a couple times, but finally his desperation to sell the card got the best of him. I got the card for a fraction of what he was originally asking. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to do the deal through a non-eBay avenue, which made me ridiculously nervous. I was afraid that I would ever see the card - or my money - again. Fortunately, he held up his end of the deal and I received the card in the mail today.

As far as the autographed portion of my quest goes, I need only the red refractor, superfractor and orange wave refractor to finish. Unfortunately, I don' think that I will ever be able to afford any of those.

But hey, you never know. I never thought I would be able to pick up this purple auto, either.