A couple of months ago, when I was still corrupt and on-the-take, Topps sent me a free box of 2010 Topps Sterling. In that box was a redemption card good for a one-of-one autographed "relic" card of Mike Piazza. Yes, getting a redemption card in a box of cards that retails for $200 sucks, but hey, I didn't pay for it.
Fast forward to today, when I received a package from Topps containing this...
In case you're wondering, yes, that is a one-of-one White Whale card of Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez from 2009 Triple Threads.
So, for all of you who plunked down your $100 for a pack of Triple Scraps back in '09, isn't it great to know, in retrospect, that a 1/1 of three of the Yankees' biggest stars NEVER EVEN MADE IT INTO THE PACKS?
So, after getting owned by his peers in the cardblogosphere, our little troller responded with this gem.
wow fatty i saw ur stupid little comments about me on your pathetic blog site. You really dont know anything about cards and all you can talk about is junk wax. ive had enough of you. enjoy living with your mom you poor fatass
But apparently, he hadn't had enough of me as just a few minutes later, he opened up a brand new YouTube account, (June 3, 2011), and sent this gem.
hi i just started watching your videos and i myself am a veteran card collector. I know all the products and i also know the old. But you sir are a dumb fuck. you know nothing about cards or hits and when u see a good hit you just call it a gimick like you did with a javhid best patch auto that you got from finest. what the hell is wrong with you?! you suck ass and are just a fat idiot. stop collecting cards and i suggest u stop buying crap products. Can u not afford the good stuff? i guess not fatass. you look like a nerd loser and i seriously doubt you have ever been in relationship with a woman. (Your mom does not count). i cant take all the negativity that you give to every product. i think the only product i have ever heard you say u look was like the thee dolls crap and 87 donruss. ( and it was not a good set by the way). thee dolls? r you serious? your a pervert! you are giving the younger generation a bad outlook on cards that they want to buy. No one likes the fuckin junk wax. just losers like you do. dont try and make the old cards look good because belive me i lived through all those times and hated them then. dont you listen to your miserable fat self? you sound insaen. and i saw your little hit collection and i was not impressed. you have no good hits and you over price the shit out of them! your hits are worth a fraction of what you say they are. ive watched many videos on youtube and yours are the most ridiculous and inane pieces of garbage i have ever seen. ill re upload some of my older videos and ill show you what a real card collector is like. furthermore, your fat, fat , fat , fat , fat , o and fat. topps is a proud company and they certainly do not need to hear what some fat loser has to say about their rich company. u dumb fat prick! u know nothing about cards and how to be a real collector. Your just a fat gimmick and your petty.
Wow. All that hate, fear and loathing. Has this guy heard of "Projection?"
Normally, I wouldn't give a P.O.S. troll like this the time of day. But indulge me for a moment; this is just too good to resist.
The following message was delivered to my YouTube account by a "BressyB..
You know what, I actually feel sorry for this kid (and he is a kid). Therefore, I'm not going to post his real YouTube username. But, I'm sure if you'd like to make your opinions known, I have the full confidence in you, the Stale Gum reader, to figure it out yourselves.
I now present to you, it all it's glory, the message sent to my YouTube inbox today.
"you know ive been watching you for a long time now and i begin to wonder if you are some insane fatass or just a dumb card collector . you know nothing about cards and the only thing you like to get is that junk wax 80s and 90s shit. fuck that shit man. the new stuff is where its at. you diss good high end products like absolute and triple threads those are great products and you diss them because you can not afford them. your not a real collector . u just cant afford the good stuff you poor idiot. why make videos on junk wax and retail. retail is a horrible waste of money. its a good thing topps stopped sending you free cards and i can see why. all you do is make negative comments on all their products. i have a ton more bad things to say about your attitude and your feelings on cards but i dont want to waste any more time. have fun breaking cheap retail you pathetic freak."
When I received this, I knew it couldn't possibly have come from Adam Gellman of Sports Cards Uncensored. Apparently, someone in southern Illinois hacked into Gellman's GMail account and had a little fun at his expense. To his credit, Gellman publicly and privately apologized to all.
On a personal note, Adam Gellman is a stand-up guy. He's a bit abrasive at times, but writes one of the best blogs in The Hobby -- even if it is R-rated.
With that said, whaddaya say we have a little fun with this Mr. Hacker, m-kay?
Personally, I cant stand people who exclusively buy retail products.
Immediately, with this single declarative sentence, Gellman's Hacker has managed to alienate a large swath of baseball card collectors. I'm guessing that Mr. Hacker lives in either an urban, suburban, or exurban area and not some place like rural America where the only place you can buy baseball cards in a brick-and-mortar environment is a place like K-Mart or Wal-Mart. Mr. Hacker, whoever and wherever you are, do me a favor. Next time your travels take you to the Nebraska sandhills, or West Texas, or rural North Carolina (to use a few personal examples), look in the local phone book under "Sports Collectibles" and count the number of Hobby stores. Then, compare and contrast that with the number of big box stores.
There are plenty of places in fly-over country where Wal-Mart IS the local Hobby shop, and plenty of collectors who exclusively buy their cards there.
Why give your money to target (sic) or wal mart (sic) when you can support a card shop who sells a better product at a better price?
"Better product" and "better price" are both subjective statements of opinion; not set-in-stone facts. Just because you believe something to be true, doesn't necessarily mean that it actually is. And just because Mr. Hacker thinks Hobby packs are "better" than Blasters doesn't mean they are. That's just, like, your opinion, man. For example, I said that there are many products where Blasters are a much better value than Hobby. Take last year's UD Masterpieces, for example. I'd much rather pay $2.99 for retail pack (knowing full well that the only cards I'd get are base cards) then spend $7 for Hobby and be stuck with a bunch of parallels and gamers that I don't want. If all you want are base cards, then why pay for something you don't want? This is my opinion, which is something that Mr. Hacker obviously disagrees with. Besides, not all card shops are good and worthy of support. I can think of at least four in the area I live that, for various reasons, I no longer patronize.
Hell, I would much rather support internet box sellers like Chris Hart at Blowout than target (sic). Just like you are entitled to your own opinion, you're also entitled to spend your money with whomever you want, on whatever you want. It's a free country, and it's how a free-market economy works.
Yet, for some reason, the idiots who dominate this blogosphere think it is some sort of mission to ONLY buy retail products, even going so far as posting some long winded false expectations post or some shit like that.
And who would they be? Mr. Hacker, you failed to list even one "idiot" who is on this "mission." So, Mr. Hacker; step up and take the Pepsi Challenge. Name three "idiots who dominate the blogosphere" who are on a "mission to ONLY buy retail products." Go on, I'll give you few seconds to think about it -- and if you list me as one of your answers, you are incorrect. You have thirty seconds, good luck!
Then, when I say that spending all the money they do on blasters, trading through the mail, etc is a bad idea when they can buy the complete set on eBay for 30 dollars, Mr Doucheface Chris Harris tries to rally the troops with "real collectors dont buy hand collated sets."
First of all Nibblenuts, that's MISTER DOUCHEFACE to you.And if you are going to quote me, then you need to quote me directly. Here's what I actually wrote:
"Real collectors don't buy hand-collated sets of current year product."
That elimination of those last four words is what we call in this business a "lie by omission." But with that said, I have a bit of a mea cupla. (Mr. Hacker, a mea culpa is Latin for, oh never mind.) In retrospect, if I had known that the SPs in UD Masterpieces retail were 1:8, instead of the 1:2 as I was led to believe, then, yes, I might have bought a hand-collated set for $30 on eBay.
Fuck that shit. Fuck him. The youth and hobby he is trying to relive by building sets died 10 years ago. Funny thing is, ten years ago folks like Gellman's Hacker were saying the exact same things on r.c.c.d. and the old Beckett Boards.
Really. I guess some things never change.
But I digress. If set building really "died 10 years ago," then why is it that, year-after-year, five of The Hobby's best selling products are: Topps' flagship, Upper Deck's flagship, Topps Heritage, Upper Deck Goudey, and Topps Allen & Ginter? all products taylor-made for set collectors. Riddle me that, jerky.
Listen, once grandma is dead you dont try to prop her up at the table for thanksgiving dinner. You let her go.
And 10 years from now, when Mr. Hacker has long-left The Hobby (and he will), I'll still be collecting my 2018 Upper Deck base set. And you know what, I might just build it exclusively through Wal-Mart Blasters! Always Be Collecting, Chris Harris www.stalegum.com
In case you haven't noticed, the cardblogosphere is blowing up. Everyday it seems, somebody establishes a new baseball cardblog. And sure enough, just as soon as a new blog opens for business, I get an e-mail (usually mixed in with the dozens of MySpace Friend Requests that front for porn sites) from it's writer begging me to check out their site.
And whose cardblog wouldn't want the "Stale Gum Seal of Approval?" While it is encouraging to see many new cardblogs spring up -- especially since many of these cardbloggers are from the "lost generation" of collectors -- there's a problem with many of these sites. Many of these are so new, they have very little original content. I can't possibly give an honest review of something that really hasn't fully developed.
Recently, in between the MySpace Friend Requests from "Tiphany," "Jasime," and "Ashley," (like that's their real names) I received an e-mail from a collector who wanted to start his own blog, and sought my advice. "How do you do it, Chris?"
And so, on this the tenth anniversary of the incident that inspired the creation of Stale Gum, I bequeath you, the new and future cardbloggers, this sage advice. For those about to cardblog, (FIRE!) I salute you.
Twelve Tips for the Budding Baseball Cardblogger.
1) Write, write, write.
Ask yourself this: "Am I a good writer, or do I suck at it?"
If you answered the latter, fear not. Writing is a skill that can be learned and improved -- but only with practice.
I'll freely admit, when I started this thing ten years ago I wasn't the greatest writer in the world either. In fact, I was terrible. But I wrote anyway. And I wrote. And I wrote. After ten years, I like to think that I'm a halfway decent writer. Granted, no one will ever confuse my prose with that of Grantland Rice, or Peggy Noonan, or H.L. Mencken, but I'm OK with that.
But you can only improve your writing skills with practice. Lots of practice. But don't take my word for it, take A.I.'s
2) Know what it is you're blogging about.
Of all the points, this is probably the most important. If you don't know shit about cards, then what's the point blogging about them?
It's like what Ricky Roma said in Glengarry Glen Ross: (And you'd know it if you ever collected a day in your life.) "You never open your mouth, until you know what the shot is."
3) More is not better.
One of the great advantages of the blog format is that there are no set-in-stone deadlines. You don't have to come out with a new story everyday -- unless you're the Cardboard Junkie. There are some weeks where I've posted five, six, even seven stories. But then again, I've gone weeks without posting a single story.
The principle here is, quality over quantity. If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, then don't say it.
4) Have a take, and don't suck.
Ah yes, sage advice from Mr. Jim Rome. When you blog, come up with something fresh and original. THINK! USE YOUR NOODLE! Don't just cut-and-paste the press release Upper Deck just e-mailed you (and everyone else who has a card blog), and post it. There are other websites that specialize in that.
Cut-and-paste that press release to your blog and tell us what you think (there's that word again) about that new $500/pack UD product.
5) Be fearless.
DO NOT BE AFRAID to piss people off. If you think that $500/pack UD product sucks, say so. What's Upper Deck going to do, sue you? Sue a blogger?
6) Remember "The 5WH"
5WH stands for: who? what? where? when? why? and how? Ask yourself these questions whenever you write -- especially if you're doing a product review. For example:
"HOW many cards did I get in pack, and HOW much did I pay for it?"
"WHO is the target audience for this product?"
"WHAT do I think of the cards I pulled?"
"WHY did I like/hate this set?"
"WHAT would I have done differently."
You get the idea.
7) Lern two youse spelchek.
This should be obvious.
8) Don't use a "dollar" word, when a "fifty-cent" word will do.
Oh sure, you may have a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university hanging up on your wall, or in my case a BA from a rather prestigious state school; but you're not writing for a serious academic journal. YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT BASEBALL CARDS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
Write as if your audience is, well, a bunch of card collectors. You know that guy you bought that waxbox off of at the card show? Write as if he's your sole reader.
9) Read.
Read. Read a lot, and absorb from your favorite authors and journalists. For example, one of my favorite authors is the humorist and gonzo-journalist P.J. O'Rourke. If you were to ask me who the biggest influence on my writing style is, it would be O'Rourke.
10) Be yourself. After all, it's your blog.
Speaking of style, develop one of your own. If you think you're funny, then write funny. If you're more serious, write serious.
Also, don't be afraid to tell the audience a little about yourself. For example, in this entry I mentioned that I have a BA from a prestigious state school. You don't have to post your Social Security number, but post what you're comfortable with.
11) Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the cardblogosphere.
How does that old shampoo commercial go? "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." Yeah, link exchanges can be a great way to promote your blog. But if you only been around for a week, and you only have a handful of blog entries, then what's the point?
If you just started a blog, write for a couple of weeks (make that months). Then, write for a couple of more weeks. Then, write for a few more weeks. If you haven't abandoned your blog by this point, then ask if you want to link swap.
12) Don't be afraid to fail.
I've been at this (on and off) for almost ten years. But it's only been in the last year that I've been able to reach a significant audience.
... and one more for good luck.
13) HAVE FUN! And don't take yourself too seriously.
Let me state for the 534th time, I don't "get" Bowman Chrome. (For all the "Chromies" out there, spare me your hate mail.) I've never opened a pack of the stuff, and I have no intention of ever doing so.
With that said, long time Stale Gum reader Dane Muramoto alerted me to a quality control issue with this year's BowChro. I reprint his warning as a public service to collectors everywhere.
I started opening 3 boxes of Bowman Chrome and noticed the following pattern emerge. The "chase" cards seem to appear most often in the 3rd from top pack position. Out of three boxes, one pack didn't have a chase, and that box, the card was in the 4th from top (2nd from bottom) position.
Also, the autographs were in all three cases in the bottom half (the side with 4 packs per stack) of the box. At first I thought the emergent pattern was lower left corner, but one of the boxes (the one with the non-blue auto) was lower right corner.
So this leads me to two theories on this release.
#1 If your box has a blue auto, it will be lower left corner. #2 It is impossible to finish a set with 4 boxes.
I think #2 is a MAJOR pet peeve for me. With the boxes ranging $75-$120 (eBay to local), I cannot see paying $500 to complete a set.
This is getting ridiculously out of hand.
Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up on it. Also a warning to readers to not buy single packs.
Stale Gum reader Rob Heiser made an observation on Topps series 2 that escaped even my eagle eye. "I noticed that the Bengie Molina card (#4) in 2007 Topps Series 1 is exactly the same as his card in 2007 Topps Series 2 (#342) except for the number on the back of the card. I haven't noticed any other similarities like that between the two sets and wondered if this was a common thing to do -- and if so, why? I could understand if the (#4) card was in a Blue Jays uniform or something, but the picture is the same, as well as the blurb text about him."
Yes Rob, it's exactly the same card. The only difference being the card number. It does not appear -- at least at first glance -- that the second series card is a variation. I've examed the obverse and reverse sides of both Molinas and could find no other difference between the two other than card number.
This can be chalked up to one of two things: 1) Topps' irrational airbrushing exuberance in the first series of '07 Topps, (Molina played for Toronto last year and signed with the Giants as a free agent in the off-season, hence the airbrushing from Toronto to San Francisco) or 2) sheer laziness on Topps behalf.
This is the first in an occasional series where I reprise my "Chris the Answer Man" role and get answers to your Hobby questions. If you have any questions you would like me to answer, just drop me a line at chris.harris@stalegum.com. Stale Gum reader Joe C. had a question about those redemption cards that Upper Deck seeded into packs of 2007 Upper Deck series one.
In packs of 2007 series one baseball, Upper Deck randomly inserted redemption cards that were good for 20 rookie cards. It was his understanding (and since I also pulled one of these cards, mine as well) that these cards would be numbered as part of the 2007 set (cards #501-520). However, we came to find out that UD -- for some reason that struck us both as peculiar -- decided to insert into packs of Upper Deck Spectrum baseball, the first three cards from this rookie set (#501-503).
The question Joe C. (and by extension me) had is, will these three Upper Deck cards that were inserted into Spectrum also be included in the 20-card redemption set? If not, then why not? And if so, will there be any variance between the Spectrum cards and the redemption cards?
Recently, the Upper Deck PR department added me (unsolicited) to their e-mail list. I now get all their press releases the day before their posted on beckett.com. So I guess you can say that I have the ear of someone at UD.
So I forwarded our joint inquiry to Don Williams, UD PR Manager, and he in turn sent it to Gregg Kohn, UD's Baseball Product Manager. Kohn confirmed that the three UD cards (Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, and Akinori Iwamura) that were inserted in Spectrum, "will be the same 3 cards that will be part of the 20 card redemption set." As for the other seventeen rookies, well, I did some fishing on the UD website, and lo and behold, I found out who those players are!
501 Daisuke Matsuzaka 502 Kei Igawa 503 Akinori Iwamura 504 Alex Gordon 505 Matt Chico 506 John Danks 507 Elijah Dukes 508 Gustavo Molina 509 Joakim Soria 510 Jay Marshall 511 Travis Buck 512 Don Kelly 513 Kevin Cameron 514 Jared Burton 515 Kory Casto 516 Joe Smith 517 Jose Garcia 518 JD Durbin 519 Jamie Burke 520 Zack Segovia
So there you go. If you were lucky to pull the redemption card, you're getting a Dice-K Rookie Card AND an Alex Gordon. Thanks for the question Joe!
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