Happy Happy Joy Joy

Ben Henry posted on his Facebook account this evening that "The Baseball Card Blog will be coming back in 2010 with new content."

YEE-HAH!!!

My Christmas Gift to You.

I've been waiting seven months to post this. But trust me, it was worth the wait.

When I went to visit Jefferson Burdick's grave this past May, I ran into a lady named Jill Ladd and her mother Beverley. We spent about three hours in that graveyard looking for Ol' Jeff's final resting place. And when we did, I ripped a box of '09 Bowman.

A couple of days later, I got an e-mail from Jill with a few interesting attachments. As my Christmas gift, I share these files with you. Enjoy.

Jefferson%20Burdick%20-%20Part%201.doc
Jefferson%20Burdick%20-%20Part%202.doc

2009 Gummie Awards: Just a Friendly Reminder.

You have about a week to submit your 2009 Gummie and Decade Gummie Award nominations. (The voting begins in January.) For a list of categories click here.

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And now, for your amusement, Gene, Gene, The Dancing Machine!



How many lines of cocaine do you think Chuck Barris put up his nose before this?

Out of the Basement.

... and back home in South Jersey for Christmas.

In the basement...

I'm taking the next week off.

Sorry, but I got to study for final exams.

Don't worry, I'll be back soon. In the meantime, enjoy this video break of Topps Unique.

The "Patch" That Ain't?

I need some help.

I just pulled this "Game-Worn Patch" card of the Yankees' Robinson Cano from a box of Topps Unique. (Video break to come) But I have no idea what this is, nor where Topps got this "patch" from.



Obviously, it is not from a Yankees jersey; nor is it from a Dominican Republic WBC jersey.

(It's not a "patch" either, just threads; but that's neither here nor there.)

So what's it from?

Any hints?

Card-Ola: 2009 Topps 206

One Hobby box of 2009 Topps 206 (supplied by Topps)
20 packs per box, nine cards per pack

Part One



Part Two



The Pulls

Base Set: 135 of 300 (45.00%)

5 Short-Print Variations (50 cards, 1:4): K. Uehara, Hernandez, T. Cobb, E. Longoria, G. Sizemore

Parallels

18 Bronze (one-per-pack)
15 Piedmont Minis
2 Polar Bear Minis (1:10): G. Soto, J. Sowers
1 Old Mill Mini (1:20): M. LaPorta
1 Cycle Mini (1:22, numbered to 99): J. Garland
1 Piedmont Variation (1:20) R. Porcello

Inserts

5 Mickey Mantle Checklists

Autogamers

1 Framed Autograph (30 cards, 1:18) R. Braun
1 Piedmont Framed Relic (25 cards, 1:71) HanRam

The Review

It's the most anticipated card set since..., since..., well since Topps announced it back in April. But was 2009 Topps 206 live up to the hype?

Yes. Yes it does. It's not as good as the 2002 edition (then again, how could they top that?), but the 2009 edition is a triumph, and the best card set released so far in 2009.

Product Review: 4 1/2 Gumsticks (out of 5)

Wax Heaven (retired)

As you are no doubt aware, Mario Alejandro has decided to close up Wax Heaven after a two-year run. As a tribute, here is Mario's very first non-Jose Canseco post to what was then known as "The Canseco Completist."

After 10 long years of collecting baseball cards I quit cold turkey as a 17 year-old. To me pursuing girls and having a vehicle was just way more interesting to me than trying to afford a pack of SP Leaf Limited or whatever the fuck was big then. Packs of baseball cards had gone up from an average of .99 cents /$2.00 a pack to 8,9, or even 10 dollars a pack by then. I just could not keep up with the big boys.

Well, it’s 2007 and I have a well-paying job so I decided to jump back in. Today’s cards have autographs, pieces of jerseys, and even bats right on them! It’s amazing. I started out with a hot product called Topps Co-Signers hoping to snatch up a then very hot Daisuke Matsuzaka rookie card. Instead I ended up pulling a Michael Bourn autograph. Maybe if this guy was an actual prospect I would have been satisfied but from the looks of it all this guy can do is run the bases. At best he is a career .270 hitter with 20-30 stolen bases for his first five years and then he’s a utility guy.

It wasn’t so bad. I enjoyed the thrill of opening up the box so since then I have bought at least 10 other Hobby boxes, some for as high as $180 and I have pulled no card higher than $50. It’s not about the price cause I remember buying Big Mac’s USA Topps card for $30 and watching it go all the way up to almost $300 in less than a year and never thought once of selling it, but damn it feels good to have a card that is wanted by the people. The problem is that today I am stuck with SIX, yes six Michael Bourn autographs. This guy shouldn’t have six cards period, let alone 6 autograph cards. I am sick of him. Please, if there is such a thing as a baseball card God, please stop sending Mr. Bourn my way. How about a good prospect for once? Please?

Card-Ola: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers

One box of 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers (supplied by Topps)
24 packs per box, six Topps Heritage and two Topps Updates & Highlights cards per pack

Part One



Part Two





The Pulls

Chiptoppers

1 Buy Back: B. Grim
1 Promo Sheet: Green/Redding/Carroll

Base Set: 125 of 220 (56.82%)

short set: 117 of 185 (63.24%)
Short-Prints (1:3): 8 of 35 (22.86%)

Parallels

10 Chrome (100 cards, 1:3, numbered to 1960): J. Marquis, M. Diaz, D.Aardsma, C. Guzman, R. Garko, J. Francoeur, M. LaPorta, J. Hariston, Jr., N. Morgan, D. Holland
1 Black-Bordered Refractor (100 cards, 1:102, numbered to 60): P. Burrell

Inserts

72 Updates and Highlights Base Set (330 cards, two-per-pack)
2 2009 Flashback (10 cards, 1:12): R. Johnson, Ichiro
2 Rookie Performers (15 cards, 1:12): T. Hanson, G. Beckham
2 Then & Now (10 cards, 1:12): Banks/Rollins, B. Robinson/Wright

Autogamers

1 Clubhouse Collection Dual Relic (1:2020, numbered to 60) Lincecum/Marichal

The Review

The second year of "Topps Heritage High Number Series Presented by 2009 Topps Baseball Updates & Highlights" (yes, that's this product's official name), is much like the first year. The set contains 220 cards, 35 of which short-printed which represent the same 15% proportion that is seen in Topps' other retro-themed sets (i.e. Heritage, A&G). The insert program repeats last year's ("Then & Now" and "2009 Flashbacks," and "Rookie Performers"), but for some reason the Then & Now inserts are numbered as a new ten-card set and not a continuation of the Then & Nows from the first series. Very confusing if you're trying to build a set. In addition, you get a autograph or a gamer in each box.

Each waxpack has two base cards from the Updates & Highlights set. Many of you may not know this -- and I was made privy to this information recently -- but the reason there are two TU&H cards per pack is so to get around the MLBPA's product quota. If this product did not have U&H cards, it would count as a distinct product, and it would count as one of Topps' 17 baseball card products. However, this set is technically considered a re-release of Updates & Highlights, so it doesn't count.

The Bottom Line

Can't really complain about this box. Everything fell as promised including the inserts, parallels, and hits.

The big "hits" were a Pat Burrell Black Refractor (numbered to 60) and a Clubhouse Collection double jersey of Tim Lincecum and Juan Marichal (also numbered to 60).

Product Rating: 4 Gumsticks.

The Philly Show was Discovered by Me.

The Philly Show was discovered by me. Oh sure, they've had the Philadelphia Baseball Card and Sports Memorabilia Show since 1979. And yes, they've had some decent-sized crowds. But until I starting writing about it a few years ago, no one outside the greater Philadelphia tri-state area knew it even existed. Hell, no one outside the greater Philadelphia tri-state area even knew they had the best card show in America right in their backyard! That is, until I started to write about it. Ergo, The Philly Show was discovered by me.

Oh sure, there were card shows in the Philadelphia area. But did you ever see Pete Rose signing autographs at the George Washington Motor Lodge? Did Shane Victorino ever make an appearance at the Ft. Washington Expo Center? Were Cliff Lee, Steve Carlton, and Mike Schmidt ever within 20 miles of Reading, PA? No. And why not? Because I didn't write about them. Sometime around 2001, I posted my first review of The Philly Show to this very website. The Hobby, and The Philly Show, hasn't been the same since.

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First off, I want to say that DC drivers are the worst. It took me four and a half hours to get from Fairfax, VA to Valley Forge, PA -- a drive that should have taken no more than three hours. Yes, it snowed. It snowed a lot. It snowed all the way to Baltimore. But that doesn't give you an excuse to drive 40 MPH on the Beltway.

I finally arrived around 2PM. Unlike earlier this year, the card show did not need to share the facility with a gun show. Just as well, I brought that can of "Chemical Billy" I got here back in March. You know, just in case. You never know when you'll need to soak a Joe Collector with Bear Mace.

Speaking of JC, he was out in force in Valley Forge. Your humble correspondent personally saw Joe rip a box of the new Topps Unique, pick out the "hits" and (and I'm not making this up) throw away the commons. As in, throw them in the garbage. I attempted to recover them, but the coffee grounds and nacho cheese sauce made them a terminal case. This guy deserved a Macing on pure principle.

In the end, I picked up a Hobby box of '09 Topps 206 for only $72. I also bought $100 worth of assorted inserts and SPs for $65, and $6 on top-loaders.

Total Spent on Cards: $143
Admission: $6
Tolls: $9
GRAND TOTAL: $158

Gummie Call for Nominations. A Big Video Production

Feel free to post this to your blogs and promote the shit out of this.

One of these things IS kinda like the other...

When I first saw this on page 14 of the February 2010, Beckett, I couldn't believe my eyes.




I know it's only unlicensed Minor League stuff, but still...

2009 Gummie Awards: Call for Nominations

Yes, it's that time again. The year is almost over. The decade is almost over.

It's time for the baseball card collector's of America to honor the best (and worst) of The Hobby for 2009.

But this year, in addition to the year-end awards, The Gummies will also honor the best (and worst) of the about-to-be-concluded decade.



So please, send me your nominations for each of the categories below (both for 2009 and for the 2000s), and send me any suggestions for any new categories, to chris.harris@stalegum.com. And be sure to look for the 2009 Gummie Awards, and the Gummie Awards of the Decade sometime in the new year.


Categories for the 2009 Gummies:

Product of the Year
Card of the Year
Rookie Card of the Year
Best Base Set
Best Insert Set
Best Autographed/Game Used Set
Best Retro Themed Product
Best Designed Product
Best "High-End" Product
Best Set for Prospects
Best Unlicensed Product
Best Hobby Idea/Innovation
Worst Overall Product
Worst Base Set
Most Meaningless Product
Most Disappointing Product
Worst Insert Set
Worst Designed Product
Worst Gimmick
Best Cardblog (You can't vote for your own!)
Best New Cardblog
Best Hobby News Source (Again, you can't vote for own.)
Best Video Box Breaker/YouTuber
Hobby MVP
Hobby ROY
Hobby Top Prospect
Jefferson Burdick Award for Contributions to The Hobby (this goes to a person)

Categories for the Gummie Awards of the Decade:

Product of the Decade
Card of the Decade
Rookie Card of the Decade
Best Base Set
Best Insert Set
Best Autographed/Game Used Set
Best Retro Themed Product
Best Hobby Idea/Innovation
Worst Overall Product
Worst Base Set
Most Meaningless Product
Most Disappointing Product
Worst Insert Set
Worst Gimmick